Fiction

Foluso Agbaje’s remarkable debut, The Parlour Wife, is likely the first novel many will read that focuses on the impact of the Second World War on an African population, with African characters squarely at its centre, and by an African author. The main setting is Lagos, the coastal city that was at the heart of […]

I know this city. I own this city. I know enough to teach you how to survive here. First: you should know this city will rip your legs apart and do you until you scream; I want to be anywhere else but here. The thing is, you’ll never leave, and you’ll never feel fine anywhere […]

Kamo held a braai at his house on Saturday. Tumi decided to go there dressed as Slick Rick, sporting an eye patch, thick dangling medallions and necklaces, trinkets, and all. It wasn’t a dress-up party or anything like that, he just felt like dressing up. And, because he had The Art of Storytelling playing on a loop […]

Three years after my divorce, on the very eve of my divorce anniversary, my sister Oge texted. At first, it was a call. I was in the kitchen staring at the fine china my last mother-in-law gave me on my wedding day. It was my ex-husband’s favorite—a set of sixteen plates and bowls and saucers […]

Her mpande glows deep blue against her chest, but all he sees is a creamy colored shell dangling from a thin rope around her neck. How was it possible that in this place he was considered Mwami when he had to depend on others to discern the realm beyond that which was visible to the […]

They will ask me when I know, I’ll sigh and say not so long ago. It happened in fragments—piece by piece you came and filled up the empty space—and in a matter of time, you became my world. They will be surprised when I say you are the only man I have ever truly loved. […]

Láti Ọwọ́ Haruki Murakami (New Yorker (© June 2020) Tí Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún túmọ̀ Mo pàdé alàgbà ìnàkí yìí nílé ìtura Japaní kan nínú ilé-ìwẹ̀ onísun-gbígbóná kan ní Ìjọba Ìbílẹ̀ Gunmà, ní bíi ọdún márùún sẹ́yìn. Ilé ìtura náà ti gbó, tàbí ká ní ó ti ń d’àlàpà. Kò fẹ́ẹ̀ lè dá dúró, mo kàn ní […]

Ìyá Àgbà Every ẹsẹ of Odù, every word of ìwúre, every atom of àfọ̀ṣẹ that would make this day had been wept for, sweated over and bled on by Ìyá Àgbà. Patience had never been her thing, she wanted all her things done now! However, each time she found herself growing impatient, and remembered the […]

Translated by Ibrahim Fawzy It seems to him that he deserves the Nobel Prize for Laziness. He sees his head assassinated by idleness, digging swirls of silence in his blood in a similar way to digging gas lines in the street where he lives.  His everyday dreams gather like insects, haunting his body in successive […]

She works for a Chinese family in a modest-serious restaurant specializing in buffets of Sushi. It’s temporary, for sure. Her apron waits expectantly, like a boxer’s towel, to be thrown into the hospitality ring. Minimum wage. Student gratuity. He wants better for her than this. Their battling at present, he’s fully aware, is his fault. […]