Journalism

Mọlará Wood Even now, decades later, Gbọ́láhàn Ọlálẹ̀mí cannot go to sleep in a dark room. It is a residual anxiety of the psychological trauma of the dictatorial regime of General Sani Abacha, when Ọlálẹ̀mí was detained at the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in Apapa, Lagos. They had come for him on the morning […]

For several weeks Nurudeen Aribisala’s wife consistently advised that they get solar power for their home in Lagos, but he did not pay much attention. Last month, the transformer powering their area blew and electricity has not been restored since — this was his cue to purchase  solar technology for his household.  “Power is infrequent […]

In late 2020, when I pulled a hamstring while playing soccer, one of my friends suggested that I take a hot shower, apply black seed oil and wrap my thigh with a piece of cloth when I get home. “It will do wonders,” he said assuredly. I suppressed laugher amid the pain I was feeling. […]

My first interpretative encounter with poetry began with Niyi Osundare’s ecopoetics in the poem “Ours to Plough Not to Plunder,” included as one of several works to study for the year’s pre-university exam. But it was William Wordsworth definition of poetry, which I came across in an English lecture on the subject of British Romanticism […]

We have published a lot of incredible stories this year spanning different tastes and genres in African literature. As we approach the year’s end, we have compiled a list of our top stories for 2022 strictly for your leisure reading this holiday. At the top of our list is this piece by Mọlárá Wood which […]

Africans trying to escape Ukraine into neighbouring countries as a result of the war ongoing in the country after Russia invaded and a war ensued have been forced to come face-to-face with varying degrees of segregation and blatant racism. Several videos of clusters of Africans left behind, or dragged out of train cars and buses, […]

We drive alongside the 2,512 square kilometre Old Ọ̀yọ́ National Park till we arrive at bustling Bani, in the Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, some two hours from our destination, the town of Bàrà, the most active archaeological site in Nigeria.  Bàrà falls outside the boundaries of the National Park and so is […]

Toni Morrison once wrote about the concept of the “other” in her beautiful book titled The Origin of Others. In the book, she writes about how othering is subjugating another person in order to define oneself. She goes on to explain that in order to emphasize the importance of the Self, the Self creates and […]

I’m doing something crazy. There is in fact no exact English word to describe it. It is called fait divers which is a French phrase for very brief newspaper reportage of unusual happenings and dark occurrences, like accidents or crimes, that befall ordinary, insignificant people. There are a thousand and one loose English translations of […]

…I devoted myself to sumptuousmoos and hallelujahs. Look around you:only the absence of certain people suggestsyou did not sleep throughout the whole journey. -Terence Hayes Unlike Hayes, I no longer devote myself to sumptuous moos, and I have struck beef off my menus. Not because I am an Adventist as most people believe we are […]