ORÍ is a success, bringing attention to a long-present but less-celebrated genre of spoken word poetry in Nigeria.
For Fathers Who Went Like This: A Poetic Journey Through Pain, History, and Hope | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ review of Adedayo Agarau’s ‘For Boys Who Went’ by Tola Ijalusi
For Boys Who Went may challenge readers with its coarse literary style, which lends the poems a rich and raw intensity. While its expression can feel unrefined at times, the profound impact of its message on the reader’s mind makes it a collection worth revisiting—an offering both thought-provoking and unforgettable.
T&Cs of (un)Loving | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ review of ‘How to Fall in Love Again’ anthology by Michael Chukwuka
The collection demonstrates the practicality of opening yourself to the ultimate possibilities of love even when it is scary. If you think not loving is beautiful, have you ever been truly loved or truly loved?
WARFARE ON PAPER | a CỌ́N-SCÌÒ review of Peter Okonkwo’s ‘How the Demons Leave’ by Jide Badmus
Although How the Demons Leave offers some clarity, it gathers its own clouds of mysteries. Why are these spiritual forces devoted to destroying man? Why does it seem the malevolent spirits are more potent, more active than the beneficent forces?
SO, WHEN DID YOU DIE? | A review of Tolu A. Akinyemi’s ‘On The Train To Hell’ by Jide Badmus
This is a journey through the pitch dark of loss with the torch of language. Grief has never been this soft! The 53 poems in this collection are reels of heartbreak with the mercy of metaphors.
EMMANUEL AYOOLA’S ‘THE WIG AND THE STREETS’ TACKLES SERIOUS EXPERIENCES IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION WITH WELL-TIMED DOSES OF WITTICISM AND HUMOUR | a review by Onis Sampson
Brilliantly written with language rich in figurative expressions and devices and stories hard to forget, ‘The Wig and the Streets’ is a testament to Ayoola’s mastery of good storytelling.
TIME TO PIPE PEPPERY VERSES — OF LUSH IMAGERIES, ORIGINAL & WITTY METAPHORS | A Review of James Eze’s NLNG Prize 2022 Longlisted “dispossessed” by Ugochukwu Anadi
dispossessed, with lush imageries and original and witty metaphors presents us with the chronicles of Eze’s growth as a poet, his intellectual maturation and the heights of his social consciousness.
THE FEMINIST BURDEN: ATTAINING INDEPENDENCE ON THE WINGS OF UNAPOLOGETIC REBELLION | a Review Of Ukamaka Olisakwe’s “Ogadinma Or, Everything Will Be All Right” by Ehi-kowoicho Ogwiji
Ukamaka explores feminism and its subsets—the resoluteness of cultures around the world to commoditize and possess women, and female complicity in patriarchy, among others. I consider Ogadinma a very important story because of how it zooms in on areas of feminism that we barely talk about.
REVIEW: THE EMMANUELS’ ‘ADULTING IN NIGERIA’ HOLDS YOU BY THE HANDS AND LEADS YOU THROUGH THE NIGERIAN MAZE
Two brothers, thirty poems, and spellbinding language. Didactic. Poignant. Riveting!
REVIEW: CHIDI IWUOMA’S ‘THE GOLDEN RULE’ IS A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ACHIEVING SALVATION & EXPERIENCING CHRIST
The Golden Rule sums a comprehensive guide to connecting with God and living a positive life. It is a sane voice in the chaos and turmoil that we are living in right now.