The Luminous Air of Heaven Charlie Muhumuza“That’s one,” I tell Amooti, “the devil’s eye.” I pause to let the weight of my words worm its way into his ears. “Some even call it the door of death,” I whisper.  Amooti looks at me, catching me in the lie, and we both...

Ronak’s Shame Masimba MusodzaAnyone watching Ronak suddenly clinging to me as we stepped out of the cinema into the cool evening would have interpreted the gesture as a demonstration of possession. Some would have rolled their eyes with a cynicism that projected their...

The Naming of Things Ugochukwu Damian OkparaWe are the new students of St Peter Claver Seminary. Some of us know each other from the previous junior secondary schools we attended, or the places we live, and for others, we are meeting each other for the first time....

The Part Aron M WoldeslassieWe always meet in cafes. It feels forced and superficial but also cosy and a tad stylised.  In the far corner of Dunn Brothers I find Angela waiting for me. For nearly a year we’ve been working together; in that time she’s never showed up...

Under the Sentinel’s Watch Frances Ogamba The sky had long lost its stars to a howling wind. No other human was in sight except a man leaning on a cane where Nzimiro Road turned into two – one part leading to Douglas Estate and the other to Onueza Estate. Emodi’s eyes...

The Magic of Being Fire Izuchukwu Onyedibiemma UdokwuOkenna In the morning, she did not tap the back of my palm or brush her fingers through my hair to awaken me for our brief morning prayer. I had tried to intertwine our fingers at night, the way we did when cuddling...

Summarised People Felix OtienoI have never really been bothered by my own age. The wisdom I have convinced myself to possess has tended to my appearance so that I look as one always ready to come to terms with specific truths. Still, I am glad to be of this world, and...

Games Played During Road Trips Osahon Ize-IyamuThere rests at the back of our minds like roadwork, but we can’t find it, and we can’t reach it. We just keep moving through vast distances of road, and all I do is watch outside. I try to concentrate on the path ahead...

Nothing Happened Toba MarisonYou do not open your eyes in the dark. The people who came before you dance behind your eyelids, whispering words you do not understand. Each word reaches you, melodic yet loud, so that you cannot tell whether it is a song or a warning....

There, in That Place of God K. Rene Odanga In those days when my uncle lay limp on a bed from a palsy, a Man of God would come from the church in the village centre and lay his hands over him to pray that he would “not die, but live, and see the goodness of the Lord...

The Boys Makena OnjerikaThe movers were still carrying our furniture off the back of the pick-up truck and into the new house in Zimmerman when my mother laid down the first rule of our new life without my father. She brought Kendi and me through the building's gate...

Ndege Wawili Tena, Two Birds Again Mohamed Yunus Rafiq I always found him sitting on the stairs outside our house, burning the dry fallen leaves of the red flame tree in the middle of our cooperative housing in Arusha town. I would sometimes sit with him, watching as...