Acts of Fear: Flights
Then a month later, on another flight over an actual sea, the Mediterranean, I almost wished I had not boarded the plane.
Blog Post
Acts of Fear: New Year, or Somersaulted
I started a short piece on why I never thought I would write memoirs, but it became “Acts of Fear,” a small series where I share personal stories that scarred and grounded me.
Remembering Mr. Fidelis Okoro
Every time I share the story of how I started writing, I list my major steps and omit, sometimes forget, some small but nurturing moments. One such moment came ten years ago, in my first year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a full year before I knew I would even be a writer. It …
Film Deaths & Memories
A thread of coincidences: a film ending from my late ‘90s childhood, a song from a talk show late last year, a magazine article minutes ago. This is how they gathered. I was surfing my Google Chrome recommendations, one piece opened into another, and I clicked on this listicle on badass Black women film characters. …
Art Naija Series
The Art Naija Series is a sequence of themed e-anthologies of writing and visual art exploring different aspects of Nigerianness. The first, Enter Naija: The Book of Places (Oct., 2016), focuses on cities in Nigeria. The second, Work Naija: The Book of Vocations (June, 2017), focuses on professions in Nigeria. Both anthologies were published by Brittle …
Remembering Professor Nnadozie Inyama
Professor Nnadozie Inyama taught us “African Fiction” in my third year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2012-13. It was a straightforward course, with a pile of novels to be read, mostly novels from the African Writers Series. I was 18, had newly decided to become a serious writer, and, although I did not …
Short Story: You Sing of a Longing
“A thoroughly modern epic but with bones as old as time. This is a story of love and betrayal and madness and music that is all the more beautiful for its plainspoken poignancy. Yet there is prose in here that steals your breath away.” — The Gerald Kraak Prize, 2016 your life is a blooming …
A Visit to Centre for Memories: Photos of Biafra
I think it was on February 8 that I visited Centre for Memories in Enugu, a hub for Igbo history and culture staging an exhibition of images and reports of the Biafran War. I never came around to sharing the photos I took. I am doing so today, May 30, the 53rd year since the …
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Statement on Leaving Brittle Paper
Today, April 15, 2020, my time as Deputy Editor of Brittle Paper came to an end. It is a position that I originated and used to expand the platform’s brand, improve its image, and in general successfully undertake major unprecedented projects in the African literary scene. I was asked to join as Submissions Editor by …
A Statement
As a writer and journalist, I work from fact, my understanding of necessary truth, and a sense of responsibility. This is the case with my report of a novelist and state First Lady’s curious comments on her son’s threat, in ethnic diatribe, to gang-rape a Twitter User’s mother. Personally, I find the threat offensive and …