Neglected

A wealthy couple crazy in love seems to be leading the perfect life, but nothing is ever perfect, nothing.

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Love and Tears

The woman beside her was chubby and rounded and the wrappa around her waist was hostile to the brown blouse she wore. Her head-tie was faded beige and had fallen off to the ground. Her head was shaking vehemently in rebuke and her body in total rebuff of surrender. The woman kept on bustling in roars; Obara Jesus! Obara Jesus! with her hands striding in very ridiculous rhythm.

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PRISMS 2: Itanile Magazine 2022, Issue 10

When we invited writers for this Issue, submissions of any theme or genre were welcomed, but especially so for works that explore the concept of journeys through the lenses of travels and tours―what it means to travel, to seek out new places. To write a story or a poem or an essay, writes Garth Greenwell, is to make a claim about what we find beautiful, about what moves us, to reveal a vision of the world, which the writers in this Issue have done with their work.

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Dancing With The Tides

I’m pleased to say that it felt like home journeying to the birth of this book. Of course home is where the “art” is. This chapbook contains 20 poems scribed from the very core of my heart.

“Dancing With The Tides” sends a message or talks about the need to being in equilibrium with the happenings in the world and not to be too attached to one specifically.

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Words From Hell

Abebi

Cries of a baby
Tears of Iya Abebi
Evil some people call life
Isn’t it darkness that brought her to life?

At birth she takes a sweet full
Colostrum it is called
Nigeria, I call Abebi
Iya, I call her forefathers

Abebi did not grow like others
When a father drinks the milk,
of the child
Doesn’t the child’s belly get bigger?

Abebi did not take in
Enough milk while growing,
even though, filled with milk and honey
Abebi is now weaned on garri

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Twitter Street

In seven chapters, the narrator in this expository comic tell stories, story after story of the trending and laughable events on TwitterNg. While it appears to be ‘just for the laughs’, the narrator also exposes readers to deep memories of grief and loss experienced in the street.

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My Road

The poet takes us on a journey along the palm-fringed beaten earth roads of his childhood home in rural Sierra Leone. Travelling with Ibrahim from boyhood to adulthood, from lonely forest paths to the teeming ghettos of Freetown

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Prisms: Itanile Issue 9

The works featured in the Prism issue have told a variety of truths. In May the Thirtieth, the poet writes, “I come from a place / where we are closest to sunrise”. You, the reader, could argue the veracity of this admittance.

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Story of the Storyteller by Oyebanji Oyeleru

Story of the Storyteller is a collection of stories set in modern day Nigeria. It is a book that talks about the essence of LIFE, the pursuit of Happiness, the agony of Failure and the joy of Success. It is a collection of thoughts that the average African is not allowed to think or talk about.
Over the years, depression in the lives of young adults and adults has drastically increased. Suicide has grown popular, religion has taken over the polity, and culture judges morals. These earth-shattering issues are seldom talked about.

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Hidden in Plain Ment

Hidden in Plain Ment is a beautiful collection of long, extended and very hilarious African plays, created to catapult minds to realms unknown, whilst entertaining and revealing a few truths about life.

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LIFE’S CHRYSALIS VOLUME 2

Our stories have a purpose. Book two came about because stories of transformation are endless. In this book, you will read true personal, stories from authors from different countries sharing their life experiences and how it has impacted their lives and people around them.

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Optimize Writing Opportunities: An Itanile Workshop & Journal

Writing undoubtedly has become an essential part of storytelling. What we learn by observing the digital space in the twenty-first century is this: you need to know how to write. Politicians, event managers, athletes, grocery store owners, all of these people need content.

Here’s a compilation of training resources from our second installation of the Itanile writing workshop with Resoketswe Manenzhe @avatar_reso, and Kolawale Samuel Adebayo @officialpstkay (IG) & @samofthevoice (Twitter).

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Freedom Magazine Issue 8: Expanse

The poems traverse through dirges and nostalgia to arrive at a convention where love is a fleeting thing. The prose – the entire issue, even – beckon the reader to partake of whims, dreams, and dares.

This collection is free to download and run by a volunteer team, we would appreciate donations from you to keep our doors open throughout the year. Please donate here or message us: [email protected]

 

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Issue 7: Passage (Freedom Magazine)

The writers in this issue have taken the decision to shape the dialogue of the day by continuing to write. In doing so, these writers have opened new doors to all sorts of conversations about everyday living. They have also given us stories that make us gasp delightedly, cry and laugh. Such was my experience reading them. Through the stories, I was reminded of our shared humanity. I was also prompted to remember our complexities as humans. In the end, I found myself gaining fresh perspectives.

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The More You Look

“The More You Look” is a compendium of very beautifully written African plays designed to shoot you to the moon and possibly leave you stranded there.

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For Those Who Don’t Know Chocoloate

Amirah Al Wassif is an eye-opener. Her poetry pulls no punches – a vision of a world turned on its head, through no fault of those who must reside there. These are the words of one who has experienced more than her age would indicate.

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SCARRED – A Novel

Scarred is a story that poignantly depicts the struggles of two women as they try to navigate life in the face of the changing landscapes of their emotional lives.

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William & Juliet

General William Stone, the valiant Spanish Mercenary Warlord dated Juliet, the adored jewel of Alberto Family for six years. His called up to the Spanish-France war led the flowery Juliet to marry Mayor Patrick Bay, the wealthy Melillan royalty.

William returned at the end of the five years long war only to insist retrieving back his Juliet from Mayor. This led to fierce battle of lovers. And the story just begin here.

William and Juliet is a great story that unveils a great truth: that we can avoid the unnecessary wars that often smoldered gorgeous citadel of love and shattered lovers’ life; that we can come out of the storming, cloudy fumes that often wreck relationships and abort glorious destiny.

This novel challenges your love-life with great didactic values and heartrending edifying punctures. Read on.

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Life & Medals: A CFW Anthology

Michael tells of a bastard child and the search for his father. Bamidele’s poem, “Insomnia”, is a quick glimpse into the restless awareness of death. Jeff and Raheela attempt to guide a writer’s hand in the foray of storytelling and publishing. Fatihah talks of love, innocently, simply. Resoketswe engages a bar conversation on suicide; a subject we hate to admit. There’s more.

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Chapter 20 Workshop, April 2021 Registrations!

Welcome to the Chapter 20 Workshop, where craft meets art. At Itanile, we are a community committed to expanding the creativity of African writers through teaching, publishing, and networking. The forthcoming workshop on April 24, 2021, is an initiative to help writers get better with writing.

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Itanile Exhibitors & ADs

We’d like to invite you to exhibit during our workshop. It’s a perfect space to meet writers across Nigeria and Africa. The young creative audience we speak to is a huge part of the future of media, voices, content, influencing, and growth hacking. Limited slots are provided.
We ask that you buy the exhibitor pass which will also allow us to offer free participant passes to highly promising writers. Advertisers get featured across our platforms

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T.I.R.E.D by Gimbiya Galadima

T.I.R.E.D by Gimbiya Galadima is a collection of more than hundred poems that uses humour to highlight societal issues. Set in modern day Nigeria, it takes you on an emotional journey from the sufferings of the unemployed, to black girl magic and leaves you with a final note that induces nostalgia and gives hope.

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Arise Nigeria

Arise Nigeria is a collection of poems that documents the pain of every Nigerian while issuing positive measures to oust the different menaces where the country has found itself. The richness of this chapbook lies in the depth different writers went in scribbling their hearts.

Nigeria is at the stage where the crows of the cock have been suppressed and the fish in danger of swimming in its own domain.; a center stage of having a surplus of meat yet, feasting on strong bones with sweat emanating from different pores of the body.

For the sake of jilted souls and diverse anomalies in this entity, the cries have gotten to its peak hence, the book.

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Sweetness – Issue V of the CFW Freedom Magazine

This is like having your favourite short stories and poems all in one place. If you are a sucker for good storytelling then you should always want a great literary magazine in your personal library. The catch here is that we go through our selection process thinking about you and the pleasure you’d get from reading our Magazine. Don’t keep this to yourself. Download and share the link!!

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MISSING – By Simi Joel

NYSC is full of experiences. ‘Missing’ is a work of fiction woven around the lives of ‘Corpers’ and explores friendship, independence politics & adventure.

In a fleeting moment of curiousity, a female National Youth service Corps member is abducted. In the days that follow, she and her friends uncover a mind boggling conspiracy.

Set in Benin – Nigeria, Missing is a thrilling story that keeps you riveted till the end.

Follow @simi_stories on IG to reach out to Simi (the author). Please check your email for a download link.

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A Collection of Golden Poetry

“Honest art will open the doors of more than a few hearts, and this is a fact recognised by Ada Esom. In ‘A Collection of Golden Poetry’, the Dark Fiction and Astrology enthusiast reels out eleven poems that explore the human condition from a more internal perspective. In this body of work, the author of ‘Daemoniac’ and ‘All She Wrote’ talks about  life from the lens of a jaded lover, a lonely soul, a scared youngster and a long-silenced woman.

“‘Maleficent’ takes after a fantasy movie from years prior but could just as well be illustrating the image of a no-nonsense woman, ‘Sixteen Candles’ is a poem about yearning for an absent lover, ‘The Ghosts of Yesterday’ tells the story of an individual caught in the vice grip of painful past memories, while ‘Gleeful Captive’ and ‘Unabashedly Yours, Truly’ put in succinct detail what it means to fall hard in love even in the face of uncertainty.”

Jerry Chiemeke, winner, 2017 Ken Saro Wiwa Prize for Reviews.

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If Human

If Human is a debut collection of stories by Chika Aliogo (Chykah Bro). Divided into three sections that promises nothing short of humor and entertainment through the diversity of its stories.

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Bathsheba by Isaac Newton Akah

Bathsheba is an audio story of the biblical Bathsheba as told from a place you haven’t taken the time to imagine. The voices, audio effects and scores put you through a wild journey. With 2000+ downloads, Isaac Newton Akah’s Bathsheba is the thrill you need, and the intrigue you didn’t bargain for.

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