By ‘The Taken’ There’s a draught in the room. Then again everywhere is slightly draughty when all you have on is a robe. You know those cute ones that make you feel adorable and sexual. Like a sexy teddy bear, or…something. My mind isn’t working very well because I am completely overwhelmed by the feeling […]

This is a piece from our publication called Emergence download it  here. By Jennifer S Ayebazibwe It is safe to say that Neo lived in her head. She owned a library in a small town in Limpopo and spent most of her days with her nose in a book. She loved political non-fiction and enjoyed […]

*Trigger warning: abelist language by NYAR Afrika “Are you okay?” I ask her as I gently kiss her neck. “mmh” she mumbles, her mind seemingly far away. “You are thinking of your husband again.” She goes unnaturally still in my arms. “No” she blatantly lies. “I am thinking about us.” That surprises me. She never […]

This is a piece from our publication called Emergence download it  here. By Chantelle Gray van Heerden I am smoking, half-running to make the bus, when I first see her. I think for a moment she is moving towards the window but, when I stop, she is a mannequin like any other. Except for that […]

By MampuruLebo A boy was not my first. A boy did not take my virginity. Although a boy became the first to penetrate me, my first was a girl. Younger than me. She was the type of girl mothered by her sister and “fathered” by her own ideas of a father. Mothers disliked her. But […]

By Nana Yaa Amponsah Sometimes, in the race of life, we meet certain people who we think mean everything to us. They virtually make our world stand tall with the heights increasing as the days go by. When we are with them, we forget everything around us and give them the maximum attention. They are […]

By Aisha Ali Haji She looked at her phone as it lit up, slowly inhaling the cigarette in her hand. It was the only light in the dark room. She was sitting at the edge of the bed, her feet hanging on the side. There was an ashtray next to her and every few seconds […]

By Muthemba Njoki Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault. The night sky was clear, and a swift breeze engulfed it making tree branches chant in sad moans whilst piling up fallen leaves and litter. The air reeked of loneliness and despair. It was so dark and grey it seemed to speak of some demonic aura within […]

By Coily Era “Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub.” I could hear the workings of her heart as my ear stuck to her warm chest. Her heart’s sounds soothed me in ways that a warm bath would soothe the aching muscles of a hard laborer. We are in our dungeon—a small room made of cool […]

By Ola Osaze Trigger warning: sexual assault I am 12 years old. In the morning, I go to school. Dad leaves for his big oga job at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and mom goes to yell and scream at the construction workers building her Mona Lisa Hotel on the outskirts of Warri, the town where […]