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 […]
Last month, prompted by an associate, I searched for and found my LITERARY AGENCIES SUBMISSIONS folder, containing information about most of the agents I queried between 2015 and 2017. The list was forwarded to a network of African writers, which is the point: helping other writers find their ways. Like in every other industry, crucial
Literary Agencies: Here Are 21 Interested in African Writers Read More »
The day I went to see Omoni Oboli’s Love Is War was the first day I saw it on the cinema company’s site. The premise, wife Oboli and husband Richard Mofe-Damijo running against each other for governor, interested me. And I like watching Oboli on screen. So I went. And paid. And sat. And within
Omoni Oboli’s Love Is War Read More »
Dear Friend, I initially planned this to be a grand, long letter about the writing life, but, you know, stuff keeps getting in the way, and I thought it best to get this out anyhow. Professionally speaking, we all enter writing hoping for the very best for ourselves. We may be aware of difficulties, but
Dear Friend, Some Incoherent Writing Life Advice Read More »
“Mulumba” was first published in The Threepenny Review’s Spring 2016 issue 145. They don’t seem to be planning to make it public so I have. I wrote it in November 2014, a tribute to my Block Rosary Crusade-heavy childhood, years spent in chapels in Christ the King Cathedral, Aba (featured photo). It is special to
Mulumba: Short Story Read More »
Sometime in May my website was hacked and, offline for more than a month’s worth of weeks, I lost quite a lot in access and potential contacts. Sometime in June I began working with a new tech person who’s damn good and will rescue me from jobless Internet people. This is one reason I haven’t
A Note on the Site Read More »
1. WITH AKACHI I have known Akachi for years, as a poet acquaintance from The Writers’ Community, UNN, but until this year, we hadn’t had a conversation that was personal. On 14 April, I saw a Facebook post by him and was worried. Benson confirmed that he was struggling with depression, and I sent
A boy’s ears should be busy during Easter. Check out my previous lists—for 2017, for 2018, and a playlist & thoughts. “Ratchet (Happy Birthday),” Drake Friend played it at my birthday and it got me. First Drake solo song I love. “Summertime Magic,” Donald Glover From the Guava Island film, which has Rihanna, which means
I like the word “feast.” The sound of it, the upper teeth touching the lower lip. I like when it is used in titles of things. I want it when it comes like this. Mario Vargas Llosa was one of the first writers I knew their names and work, back in 2011 when I
The Feast of the Goat Read More »
1. This is only half of the story. 2. My third idea for a novel came in June 2013, one evening as I was starting a short story. At that time, the manuscript of my short story collection, You Sing of a Longing, was still in its earliest incarnation, on course to be a
Between Short Stories and a Novel, My Creative Shutdown and Transitioning Read More »