It was she that taught her father, how to speak. He did not know the language of fathers and daughters. It was she that taught her father, how to be needed. He did not know necessity beyond daily bread. It…
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Things the World Didn’t Tell You
Every evening, your father tore a page off the Bible, steeped it in water, and chewed. Every evening, he mumbled the same two-minute prayer before eating the Word of God. He chewed gingerly, steadily, reverently. It may have dropped forewarnings…
Uncle Mike
“Who is your aunty? Shift from here, let me not slap you!” Those were the words Maru, the Form Five dormitory prefect, flung at me when I greeted her with Aunty Maru a couple of weeks into my new life…
You have a fullness you need to bring out
“You have a fullness you need to bring out” interrogates and reimagines how we consume text-based art, specifically what we read and how we read, by offering an immersive approach. Drawing from a curated archive of work from Bakwa Magazine…
Bakwa at 10: Celebrating a Decade of Disruption
December 2021 will mark Bakwa Magazine’s tenth anniversary. From inception in 2011 to currently being at the forefront of African literary culture, our journey is a remarkable one. Created as a response to the dearth of critical and creative writing…
The Mwalimu Palaver
“What’s in a name?” The often-quoted question rings on in an age of post-enlightenment. When I think of the vision promulgated by the late emeritus Professor Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, echoes of “Shall We Make or Mar” seem to continue to…
Some Things Are Most Beautiful in the Dark
Image Credit: AtlasbyAtlas Studio, Shutterstock.com 1. Mother pressed the sweltering blade deeper into my left thigh, ignoring my scream this time. The blood was a thin streak of bluish-red. She sighed and wiped it off my thigh with…
Bad Lake
François and his two colleagues, Fondzenyuy, and Murphy, stared at the gas siphoning system installed in Lake Nyos with excitement. Two very long polyethylene pipes set up vertically from the bottom of the lake to its surface emerged in the…
Sane Sundays
cliquez ici pour lire la version en français Where the sun is brightest, where all the main roads in Kimboh meet, the man sits and glares into thin air. The Harmattan breeze has come with great gifts: pieces of papers…
Une bataille aux crachats
Image: Crazy nook ( shutterstock) click here to read in English On me dit que le pays est anémié Les vampires l’ont vidé de son sang Que bientôt le rideau des ombres Nous séparera de lui — Géraldin Mpesse « Libérez…
