Fiction & Poetry

It was three different kinds of love and the octopus tentacle of cancer extended its lethal touch to all three.

Three childhood friends — Aasir, Sira and Adira — embark on a Safari, to climb to the peaks of Oldoinyo Oibor and conquer the torments of the wandering waters of Mto Mkuu, as initiation for selecting the Chosen Ones: the Enlightened Elders of Songhai. Of every thousand who embark on the Safari, less than five ever return. And for almost all of them, their bodies are never recovered, and empty coffins are buried by their people instead. Only those who can choose to die are ready to know the truth. They must confront the tragic and bizarre consequences of their bravery.

A story about a family whose bonds are tested by loss and hurt through the generations. The opportunity to heal is promised in a new life.

"Wisdom is chilled out and gentle as fuck, cracking new intelligent jokes, not the old ones he rehashes when they are smoking trees. Amanda is laughing, a unique kind of laughter. It is restrained when it starts – a chuckle – then explodes with fullness and freedom, fragrance and youthfulness."

Deliverance is the story of a boy brought from the village to live in the city. Her aunt takes him to church for deliverance when things starts missing in the house. He is delivered, only for the real thief to be discovered shortly afterwards.

As a child, clinging to my father's side, my hand tightly grasping his calloused one, we arrived at the boarding school gates. Tears streamed down my face, a testament to my yearning for home's safety and comfort.

Hlín Leifsdóttir is a classical singer and writer from Iceland.

This year Antjie Krog turns 70 and her passions and commitments, forged in the 1970s, show no waning. For decades she has represented the important role that a poet can play in public life in a fractured country.

As he boards a Nairobi-bound Kangaroo Shuttle, her teary face is on his mind. She stands there motionless, looking on. The Shuttle leaves as the stage is ruffled with hooting vehicles, revving car engines, stale sweat and farts from touts, and the scramble for passengers.