Agbowo has a special issue out. The unthemed ‘November’ Issue Y collects writing from some of Africa’s most exciting literary voices, including the most recent NLNG prize winner Romeo Oriogun, as well as finalists Su’eddie Vershima Agema and Sadiq Dzukogi, the Senegalese author Moustapha Mbacké Diop, and the Nigerian writer and winner of the Waasnode Fiction Prize Ucheoma Onwutuebe.

The special issue is the first of its edition from Agbowo, which continues to center excellence in its publication. It is also a pleasant mix of established writers and emerging, promising voices, such as editorial assistant at Isele Magazine Chidera Ike-Akaenyi and the Ghanaian poet Kwame Boateng.

Read the editorial note from Adedayo Agarau below:

Based on Tembi Locke’s memoir, “From Scratch” followed the pedestal of an eruptive relationship between a couple with different cultural backgrounds. What started as an innocently growing love between Texan artist Amy (Zoe Saldaña) and Italian chef Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea) soon became a daring narrative about sickness, perseverance, commitment, dreams, and ultimately, death. But something else was happening in the backdrop: the possibility of using language to scale a hurdle, connect with people, and navigate trauma.

The power lying in the stories we tell as a people resonates with the time we spend living the story. We often find ourselves reaching for memories because the story we are currently living is still fermenting. Nostalgia is both a poetic and realistic tool. For instance, December in Nigeria is different from December in Iowa. It snowed yesterday, so there is a spread of snow on my lawn this morning. The lawn overlooks the grey mansion where a man and his wife water their plants every morning. A man with a big belly mowed the sidewalk connecting Burlington boulevard with Lucas street. There are no children outside. No loud music from the barber’s shop where children are gathered in the afternoon watching Wrestlemania on the 14” tv placed outside. In Ibadan, festivity is synonymous with memories of people and friends. Not a time spent with books and the distilled silence in the clear sky. Again, nostalgia is the difference in the stories we tell. I wonder about the similarities of experience in very different spaces, placing Iowa city by Ibadan (continue reading here).

Download the November 2022 Issue Y here.