Recent — Stories-Shayera Dark

Why I Withdrew My Short Story From The 2024 Caine Prize

Or, the brazen grift of Troy Onyango, founder and editor of the literary site Lolwe.

WorkShayera Dark26 June 2024lolwe, african literature, troy onyango, fraud, caine prize for african writing 2024, Recent

These Letters End in Tears|Musih Tedji Xaviere

Xaviere's novel is a welcome addition to the growing list of literature centring queer lives in African societies eager to deny their existence with claims that they are un-African or misguided vessels of Western immorality.

Book ReviewShayera Dark17 June 2024These Letters End in Tears, Musih Tedji Xaviere, Cameroon, African Literature, Anti-homosexuality Law, LGBTQ, Book Review, Recent

Four Books Guaranteed to Expand Your Understanding the World

Here are four books guaranteed to illuminate your mind and broaden your world.

Book ReviewShayera Dark23 December 2023Maryse Conde, Segu, Andrzej Szczypiorski, The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman, Adania Shibli, Minor Detail, Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Book Review, Nakba, Holocaust, African History, Recent

Ayòbámi Adébáyò|A Spell of Good Things

Adébáyò’s second novel, A Spell of Good Things, is an invigorating dive into the ramifications of poor governance on a working class family and middle class one, which would fatally and ultimately bind them.

Book ReviewShayera Dark4 September 2023Ayòbámi Adébáyò, A Spell of Good Things, Nigeria, African Literature, Political violence, Classism, Book Review, Recent

Daughter in Exile|Bisi Adjapon

Daughter in Exile by Bisi Adjapon is a pacy, character-driven novel that surveys the many burdens of living as an irregular migrant in the US.

Book ReviewShayera Dark19 August 2023Bisi Adjapon, Daughter in Exile, Of Frogs and Men, immigrant literature, Ghana, Senegal, African Literature, Feminist Literature, The Teller of Secrets, Book Review, Recent

Double Review: How Beautiful We Were|Imbolo Mbue; The Dragons, the Giant, the Women|Wayétu Moore

Moore’s memoir and Mbue’s novel celebrate and centre women as subjects of their own stories, capable of propelling and making history just like their male counterparts.

Book ReviewShayera Dark5 March 2023wayétu moore, how beautiful we were, imbolo mbue, book review, the dragons the giant the women, liberia, african literature, Recent

How the Aid and Development Industry Enables Sexual Abusers

Sexual predators know they can take advantage of the industry’s opaque and byzantine investigative procedures, its lack of follow up with complainants and general nonchalant disposition towards incidents of sexual abuse to perpetrate and perpetuate their nefarious activities unhampered.

LeisureShayera Dark5 March 2023united nations, sexual harassment, oxfam, usaid, cima, national endowment for democracy, open society, #aidtoo, Sexism, Pilot Media Initiatives, Dillon Case, Recent

The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls|Mona Eltahawy

In this searing, unapologetic treatise, Mona Eltahawy presents seven tools women and girls can use to “defy, disobey and disrupt the patriarchy,” and free themselves from the claws of gendered beliefs and expectations.

Book ReviewShayera Dark23 February 2023mona eltahawy, the seven necessary sins for women and girls, feminism, patriarchy, male violence against women, gender equality, book review, Recent

When We Were Birds|Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

One part magical realism, one part crime thriller, one part romance, and rendered entirely in patois, Banwo's debut novel—set in a fictional Trinidad—follows Emmanuel Darwin and Yejide St Bernard on separate paths to self-discovery that eventually lead them to each other, thanks to their disparate connection to death.

Book ReviewShayera Dark27 November 2022When We Were Birds, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Caribbean Literature, Book Review, Magical Realism, Trinidad, Recent