By Divine Inyang (Nigeria) [Honorable Mention] The first rain of the year fell in the first week of March; what the people here call the black rain, washing along the filth of Akworo into ancient gutters that emptied into the Ijun, prying the dust off thirsty zinc roofs and dust-plated cars and trees gasping for water. Reverend Onsachi opened his…
By Celestine Ndanu (Kenya) [2nd Runner Up] Mangeleva’s Millennium Those years it rained in January, watching the stars in the clear night sky and moonwalks was a punishment, not therapeutical. We lived in a missionary-infested village under Morro Mountain. Several streams flowed from the mountain; their waters clear and blue as they meandered past my grandmother’s compound leaving dark, white,…
By Ken Wetherington (USA) [1st Runner Up] Even as a child, Alban lay awake most of the night and spent daytime hours drowsing in the classroom. His lessons suffered. I often mocked him. “You should be a rock star,” I teased, though he had no aptitude for music. I, the eldest, on the other hand, rose early and excelled at…
By Mike Ekunno (Nigeria) [Overall Winner] Igbo-Adagbe Ancient and Autonomous Community, South-East Nigeria. May 26th 2020, Tuesday, Nkwor. There was an unmistakable balefulness to the cooing that night of an owl that dived through the sleepy village and came to perch across from Agbara’s shrine like a boomerang returned to base. The vicegerent of Agbara Ahuru Gbuo Okuko (the terrible…