Creative Nonfiction

We all have a set of memories that are particularly painful to tap into. We box them up and push them behind our closets simply because they are too painful to think of, let alone narrate. The [...]

Dear Amara, at the end of last year, I received the teary email you sent me, which I read and reread until my heart wept. Some situations are humorous in themselves. It is how you run to someone [...]

Dear You, A warrior in an ongoing battle, a spectator watching a struggle, or a veteran of one, does the battle ever stop? Ooh, if only we’d write about the ongoing wars. The clanking of ideas, [...]

Mingaphi iminyaka yakho?  No no no no. Why me? I Don’t Understand What They Are Saying. Sorry, I only speak English. Hayi! Ngoba? You’re black and you don’t speak your mother tongue? You should [...]

I sighed deeply before opening the door. I tried ignoring the persistent knocks, thinking that if I said all the right words like, “God knows best,” grief would realise I didn’t want to entertain [...]

Even as I stretch my mouth into some semblance of a decent smile, my spineless lips curl in on themselves, retreating towards my throat the way the ocean recoils from the shore and slithers back [...]

In China, there is a custom that has been passed down for ages. It is called the Zhuazhou where during the one-year celebration of a baby, different items, each symbolizing a career path are [...]

It’s alarming how many youths and even adults drift through life like leaves on water, devoid of purpose. They move aimlessly, lacking conscious direction or goals, resembling zombies in a silent [...]

With the exception of only a few tricks a human being can make, I reckon there is nothing as lethal as a good smile can be. There is just something irresistible about a beautiful smile, so much [...]

In my country, we love and loathe deadlines in equal measure. We hate being told by which date we should do things, but then we don’t do anything unless the deadline for the thing is tomorrow. In [...]