Pot of Stories
Felicity ➤
Khadijah S. Ádámù in Agbowo
Felicity dies at 52 years of age. She goes through a lot of struggles while living, particularly domestic violence. She’s a dutiful child of her mother, and being underground now, who cares for her mother? for her little child? Find out from the narrator of this story of remembrance.
Rediscovering Happiness at Ebedi ➤
Isaiah Adepoju in Fortunate Traveller
Isaiah shares his experiences as a teenager and as a kid, in this non-fiction story. Here’s a young man reminiscing about his childhood, finding happiness as a teenager, and his love for nature all in one breath.
Tryphena. L. Yeboah in Narrative Magazine
A powerful story of a teenager who has to cater to his siblings. With their mother’s death, through the birth of the last child, Joseph. A superstitious belief amongst their people makes them leave for the woods.
Zenas Ubere by Lolwe
Zenas takes us on a journey to the southeast of Nigeria. He lets us into the things that are the norms on the road to Onitsha.
Patricia Furstenberg in Kalahari Review
An African fable about cheetahs and how they got tear marks on their faces.
Pot of Poetry
Sodiq Oyekanmi in Agbowo
the bullet wound on the wall clock/refuses to heal. here, life is in a loop/someone is always dying.
Aishah Ahmad Imam in The Shallow Tales
Right from the onset, one could assume I was/born into earth because of my grandfather’s chair,/our bond—connected as bedbugs are to blood.
Afua Awo Twumwa in Olongo Africa
& here’s America,/After luring me, calling the next day/That he’s married & so why not/Just love my country
Kwame Dawes in Narrative Magazine
My people/long gave up on the ancestors/when they learned that those/stepping out of the woods/are the crippled gods, the beaten/gods, the blackened and burnt-out/tongueless gods
Olowo Qudus Opeyemi in Nigerian News Direct
we used to be/innocent souls/ exploring life in rain/sand/toys/& empty marsh lands./i miss those faces/ life shared into growth. & some are no longer/breathing with us/ some have become victims …
Book Recommendations
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions ➤
Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi (2022)
This is Omolola’s first book. It is a collection of short stories about four young women at an all-girls Nigerian boarding school. Because they took part in a revolt, they have a lot of problems to solve. Through the four characters, the author shows what friendship between people can look like and how it changes people. In an interview with Essence, Ogunyemi said that the story was based on her childhood memories, her love of travelling, and the wonder and difficulty of being an immigrant in the U.S.
Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi was born and grew up in the Nigerian city of Ibadan. Her stories and poems have been published in top magazines, and she was a finalist for the PEN/Studzinski Literary Award in 2009. She got her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in computer science from Barnard and UPenn. Omolola is a professor of preventive and social medicine at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. There, she teaches and does research on how to use biomedical informatics to reduce health disparities.
News & Opportunities
2022 Awele Creative Trust Award ➤
Opportunity
The deadline is December 1, 2022. The winner would be announced in April 2023. Stories must be original, unpublished, and between 2,500 and 5,000 words. Send your submissions to awelecreativetrust@gmail.com
Sokoto Book and Arts Festival ➤
Event
Sokoto Book and Arts Festival (Nigeria) comes up this weekend. Looking for where to experience art and literature this weekend? Kindly follow the link below to get the necessary details on how to attend and what is expected of the festival.
Event (24-26 November 2022)
Now in its tenth year, invites lovers of books and arts to this year’s festival. For more details about the guests and the activities that will take place and how to apply, kindly follow the link below and click on the festival feature.
Awards
After losing out on the NLNG prize for Poetry, wins the ANA Poetry Prize—this was announced on his Facebook page days ago.
Opportunity
Send in up to five poems to Variant Lit magazine. They’re open for submissions till December. They pay $10 per piece.
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