Essays
Yes, It Is Obscene, Ms Adichie, But… – Dami Ajayi
I The world of letters is divided by temperaments, ideologies, perceived paranoia, and just plain bad blood. Two Nobel laureates once took their gloves off in the evening of their years for…
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A Brief History of Music in Lagos – Dami Ajayi
Lagos has always been the cultural capital of Nigeria. Given its maritime location as well as being the seat of political power in both colonial and post-colonial eras, it was only a matter of…
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Finding Somi in Lagos: A Profile – Dami Ajayi
Somi is running late. It is the Sunday morning after the February 2019 presidential elections that re-elected President Muhammadu Buhari into office and Lagos has endured a wet weekend. …
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Poems
Poems by Benson Eluma
Myth of the Vestal Virgin It is time to set out for the crossroads.The vestal virgin, mother to all their mothers,Has something for them in the mirror —Image of herself nakedBefore the morning…
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Totems of A New Spring by Tunji Olalere
(For XX/X/XX)I The yellow moon is a wary eyeon the antics of the eveningand time folds into shapefor the ears that stalk it Shadows lean into shadowscross-pollinating chaos,the boughs of heads…
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A Poem by Uche Peter Umezurike
River Urashi Green is grey in the enigma of your smile. Your mouth, open: leafy breath mists my lips. Face of the Sphinx teases my thirst to understand this youth of windy spirits, his course…
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Two Poems by Ismail Bala
(after Menka Shivdasani) ‘How come your hair is so lustrous?’the tall pianist asked, and she,half-awake, said Kano city was full of lustreand sometimes the place got into your hair. He was a…
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Editorials
Fiction
Of Home and Other Places We Claim — Adeola Opeyemi
What happens to them if they can’t diagnose me? They look like they are afraid of not just me but something beyond this austere room. They stay a few feet away, a barrier between us, and make…
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Stranger Things Than This — Ope Adedeji
Standing under the bright white light that was a stark contrast to the dark clouds outside, Love felt a wave of dizziness that forced her to hold on to a mannequin and shut her eyes. By the…
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Factory Baby — Frances Ogamba
The child stops smelling like a child. The perfumed powders and lotions do not deter the sharp burning smell that creeps into my room each time he wails. Then he gives off an intensely musky…
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