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Tag: Africa

Thawing Colonial Blocs – Reminiscing PaGya 2019
November 5, 2019
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| TIDBIT

Lately, numerous festivals have been held across the African continent. With this increase in the number of literary festivals, authors, readers, and other members of the literary community are more curious about and interested in such gatherings.  Are you planning or considering attending a literary festival in Africa? One of our editors, Amara Chimeka, attended the recently-concluded PaGya Literary Festival in Accra, hosted by the Writers’ Project of Ghana, and sampled opinions from your favourite African literati. They all aver…

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Rotshang by Bizuum Yadok
September 13, 2019
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| FICTION

A lie begets a lie, and even half-truths do not endure the test of time. Nonetheless, some lies are so cosy that you would never want to spare a quarter of an ear to entertain alternative versions of them. If love marries a lie, their union would produce anything but peace. But I had peace. I raised my head to take a swift break from the game I was playing on my Nokia 3310. According to Dr Jot’s jokes,…

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“Our hybridity is one of our biggest advantages.” Su’eddie Agema
September 10, 2019
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| INTERVIEWS

  A book festival in Makurdi? In these days of Boko Haram and insecurity? Jeez! You’ve got guts. This is our first reaction, though it is almost immediately replaced by awe, when we see the Instagram post announcing the inaugural Benue Book and Arts Festival. However, like the toad that does not run in the daytime for nothing, we dare the odds and end up having a refreshing time, learning and unlearning from and with other literature and culture…

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The Art of Creation
May 22, 2018
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| INTERVIEWS

Ibe Ekuma is a self-taught artist with a love of the surreal. She’s about the take the art world by storm. But first, a journey through Nigerian folklore, finding joy and Afrofuturism with Ngum Ngafor. The human body is your muse. Why? I am inspired mostly by the different expressions we make. I love how the body has its own way of communication. You know, facial expressions, smiles, staring eyes, eyes looking into space and so on. And I…

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Flirting With Khartoum: A Ghazal
May 3, 2018
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| POETRY

    In this poem, Ahmad Holderness pens an ode to the Sudanese ancient city of Khartoum   Who are you now City where love reared herself a throne molded From dust   Blue and white skirts flow to the nape of your waist, inviting Snake on a desert; I’m a pattern in your dust   Mud house, melting like a pillar of salt, with stars Gazing from behind heaven’s tears, I become stardust   A boy begged for…

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Summons to the Village Square No. 001
February 15, 2018
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| SUMMONS

          A conversation between Obinna Udenwe & Jayne Bauling on her story, Ancient Words   Every time I visit my village of Ogada Edda – a rice-rich settlement – in the State of Ebonyi, Nigeria, I would be woken most morning by the thundering sound of the village gong, only that it is not a gong but an old vehicle rim hanging on a tree branch at the centre of the village. Most times, I…

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Powerful Women: From Fiction to Fact by Trish Nicholson
February 13, 2018
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| OPINIONS

    The world is happy to celebrate powerful women – as long as they are fictional. From the Greeks’ mythical Amazons and the Valkyries of Icelandic sagas, to Wonder Woman striding heroically across our cinema screens, powerful women are the stuff of fantasy, the exception. But women have always been brave, smart, resourceful, strong – it’s the narratives that changed – and new findings are revealing women’s power as fact. The recent discovery by modern genome research, that…

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The Revolution is a Woman by Toni Stuart
February 13, 2018
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| POETRY

A collective poem compiled and written by Toni Stuart at the 4th African Feminist Forum, 10th – 12th April, 2016 in Harare, Zimbabwe. The poem uses words, phrases, ideas and thoughts shared by the women throughout the forum.   the revolution is a woman a black, queer, radical, Azania House-occupying, sjambok-wielding Tahir square-protesting raised fist   pumping, bashing, smashing, tearing down Patrick’s invisible walls   the revolution is a woman a hijab-wearing veil-discarding, veil-reclaiming church-going, silent-praying, God-denying voice  …

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