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Features, Lit Scene, Nonfiction, Reviews, Stories and Poems, Submission December 9, 2019

This Blood That Not Even the Mountains Can Hold: Megan Ross Rereads Sarah Godsell’s Liquid Bones

“this country of blood” It is just under a year since Impepho Press published Sarah Godsell’s second poetry collection, Liquid Bones. It is October, Spring. In this “summoning season change” we find ourselves, as a country, as femmes, as individuals, as Africans, barely surviving the wave of femicide and xenophobic violence that has torn through […]

On Transatlantic Shame | I. S. Jones | Poetry

nothing is earned unless something is lost. the ocean grants safe passage, but i fear the cost is too great. you tell yourself, [if i survived Nigeria, there is no greater beast above me], but you grow to understand America is the beast after which all other beasts are named. you try to be a […]

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Features, Lit Scene, News, Stories and Poems, Submission November 15, 2019

Vol. II of 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Guest-edited by Yasmyn Belkhyr & Kayo Chingonyi, Now Available Here

In November 2018, we published the debut volume of the 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry series. The first of its kind to focus only on poetry from across the continent, the project—edited by the Nigerian poets Ebenezer Agu, D. E. Benson, Gbenga Adeoba, and Chisom Okafor, and the visual artist Osinachi—pushed institutional boundaries […]

The Dinner Date & The Battle Line: Episode 6 and 7 | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

“We have two rules at the coven. The first is not to kill. Doreen says that life is a precious gift from the gods and should not be wasted. The second is this: break the first rule if necessary. Doreen says that while life is precious, there are decisions that must be made. Whether the […]

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Features, Series, Stories and Poems October 28, 2019

The Initiation: Episode Five | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

“There are secrets in this world. Secrets you were never meant to know. Secrets that would bend your mind and twist your tongue. These were secrets that were there in the beginning, and will be ever present, in the end. And the end will come to her, in time.” — Baba Exodus. *** To become […]

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Features, Fiction, Stories and Poems October 24, 2019

An Open Secret | Mary-Brenda Akoda | Fiction

THE COMMOTION AND shrill rumble of tyres against the pavement were the only indicators that they had come. Quickly, I woke from a nightmare not too different from this one and willed myself out of bed, floating through our bungalow as silently and swiftly as I could. Our Swiss-made steel backdoor and front door were […]

Haute Couture | Aaishah Mayet | Poetry

There’s a piece that defies this collection: grotesque as an accessory, ill-fitting in form, gaping, lack-lustre, scratchy, suffocating. . . How does one coordinate Vulnerability in an ensemble, when it stumbles on a catwalk lacking all finesse? Masquerade, maybe? Dramatically sullen colour palettes? Billowing fabrics? To soften where it jars. Such armour […]

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Features, Series, Stories and Poems October 21, 2019

The Council of Five: Episode 4 | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

At midnight, when a new moon appeared, when the night is darkest, the witches have their meeting. [12:00 am] Eve Akpabio had been sleeping. She didn’t dream anymore; she had killed all of her dreams a long time ago as a sacrifice to the gods. Her body was jolting with energy now, and she […]