NYC Block B – Micheline Ntiru
NYC Block B Micheline NtiruI arrived in New York that July with the kind of excitement only a 17-year-old with a summer to waste could carry. I was ready to experience the New York I had seen in movies, try my first hot dog, and walk the iconic Fifth Avenue. I was...
Apart, Speaking – Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann
Apart, Speaking Philippa Ndisi-HerrmannI At the kitchen table of the Victorian house I share with two flatmates, I watch you finely slice garlic and flat-leaf parsley. It’s a summer afternoon with no wind and the backyard walls burn white. My second year of film...
Where Chekov’s Gun Does Not Shoot, Okigbo’s Gun Will – Nkiacha Atemnkeng
Where Chekov’s Gun Does Not Shoot, Okigbo’s Gun Will Nkiacha Atemnkeng Narrative structures, when overused, can become redundant. I had a lightning bolt moment in that regard the day my Nigerian American MFA classmate’s story was workshopped by an older, white, male...
The Grace of the Unclaimed – Jude Dibia
The Grace of the Unclaimed Jude DibiaI. Espresso House, Triangeln It always begins here. At a corner table in Espresso House – the one tucked inside Triangeln mall by the train station, where people come and go like the weather. I order my usual: a black coffee, no...
My Elastic Heart Will Go On – Oyindamola Depo-Oyedokun
My Elastic Heart Will Go On Oyindamola Depo-OyedokunThe day I saw him, my heart almost forgot it didn’t belong to him anymore. How could it? How could it forget so soon how, with a string of calls and texts, he reached for it and violently cut it loose from his? How...
No Scar to Your Beautiful – Maryam Ayooluwa Agoro
No Scar to Your Beautiful Maryam Ayooluwa AgoroAfter a tiring day filled with never-ending lectures, I collapsed onto my bed the moment I reached my apartment, letting out a deep sigh. I muttered to myself, "One day, I go graduate sha." Completely drained, I lay on...
A Pipe Dream – Mariam Sule
A Pipe Dream Mariam SuleThe morning we meet, I wake up excited like something is going to change my life forever. Life is blooming outside my room, and I’m excited to join it – birds are chirping, people are talking, cars are driving, and I’m looking forward to...
Scenes In Brooklyn – Jard Lerebours
Scenes In Brooklyn Jard Lerebours1 INT. NICHOLAS REGGAE DAYÂ As a child, my mom always drove us to Nicholas Reggae, a quaint bookstore in Brooklyn. She could never be in one place at once. Her mind was always ticking, fueled by grief and anxiety. I clamoured after the...
The Seventh’s Blood Ends a Week – Aganaba Jesudubami Jemima
The Seventh's Blood Ends a Week  Aganaba Jesudubami JemimaIt was a Sunday, but then, it was many Sundays past, and days before those many Sundays gone. It’d been a long time coming, and many people dying, and nobody that could aid seeming to care, save talks of how...
A Murmuration of Fallen Angels – Rigwell Addison Asiedu
A Murmuration of Fallen Angels Rigwell Addison AsieduThe white walls gleam under the fluorescent lights like pale wraiths smiling at me with bloodlust. I want to flee, but I am in a therapy room, my heart still racing, my mind still reeling from the events of...
There Is a Bully in My Head – Elisha Oluyemi
There Is a Bully in My Head Elisha OluyemiOn Most Nights (1) I twist the key inside the keyhole, and the click in the mortise confirms that I've locked myself in. Then, I pull out the key and toss it on the bed. This act looks simple, but it is laborious—since I don't...
What To Do When Your Life Becomes a Flattened Film of Grief – Esther Omoye
What To Do When Your Life Becomes a Flattened Film of Grief Esther OmoyeAfter Chikodili Emelumadu Please note:Â 'Grief' (also known as "mitakuye oyasin" in the Native American culture) is used to say, "We are all related," but in this context Ibinuje, the Yoruba word...