Stories and Poems

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Features, Series, Stories and Poems October 14, 2019

The Queen of Dahomey: Episode Three | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

There was an old woman with a ragged scar on her cheek who lived alone on the outskirts of Dahomey. The people all knew of her and would gawk and whisper when she passed them in the market square — the only time she entered the city — to buy fruits and vegetables. At night, they said, as if […]

The Frozen Heart: Episode Two | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

“To you, oh Goddess, we give our dreams, To you, oh Goddess, we give our faith, To you, oh Goddess, we give our breath. Guide us, heal us, lend us your power. We are your daughters, do not fail us in our need.” Prayer to Oya. *** Sharon Uyai was meant to be happy. She […]

Son of Affliction: Episode One | The Witches of Auchi Series | Anthony Azekwoh

“I was there in the fire, the flames that kindled the world. There was darkness, there was emptiness, there was nothing; except me, that is.” — Doreen, Private Journals 1806. *** On 71 Adelabu Street, Surulere, is a two-storey house split in half. Above is an apartment that gathers dust, mould and cobwebs. Underneath is […]

Brittle Paper Launches New Story Series: The Witches of Auchi by Anthony Azekwoh

Brittle Paper is delighted to announce a new, deliciously spooky story series. For the next six weeks, beginning on October 7, we will run Anthony Azekwoh’s Witches of Auchi in weekly installments. Witches of Auchi is woven around the exploits of a small coven of witches as they try to navigate life and the challenges […]

Sundays at Saint Steven’s | Davina Philomena Kawuma | Poetry

when god runs out of money (how, no one says) once a week, these days, we come to where the pumpkins bob and the lake flies drop. my father’s widows, long-necked from greening free markets, rounding the stopped doors, sowing selves into cupped hands. my father’s daughters, easily bred on weather-worn benches, bidding the slow […]

We Need To Talk | Adhiambo Adongo | Fiction

IT WAS A warm, humid night in the lakeside city of Kisumu. Under a starless sky, the women, seated on an assortment of plastic chairs, sang hymns. Between them and what had two days ago been a grass-thatched mud hut stood a decade-old mango tree. The hut had undergone a hurried transmutation overnight, and in […]

The Hour of Judgment | Edith Knight Magak | Fiction

THE HOUR OF judgment has come upon me, and my hope for redemption is pegged on a needle, sorcery, and a razor blade. If all fail—no, I will not think of that possibility. “Adala, Adala, look, the stool of loyalty is here.” Nyanaga’s excited voice breaks into my thoughts, and I watch passively as my […]

This Country’s Women | Three Poems by Kyle Malanda

This Country’s Women To survive, the women in my country hide secrets beneath breasts, at the curve of spine, between each hip: the first places shame ever licked us. Tucked at the corners of our wrappers bank notes folded into our modesty to trade at the market. There, the caverns of our bodies rattle […]