One notable factor for the continued flowering of fiction on the continent is the rise and rise of literary magazines in Africa. Every year, we see new magazines publishing important stories come up and stake a claim in platforming the narratives of Africa.
By Afrocritik’s Editorial Board
The year 2024 has once again been a notable one for African literature. African writers produced an immense amount of quality literature across the board. In the short fiction genre, the presence of African writers was equally felt, from prizes such as the Caine and Commonwealth to other prizes, old and new, across Africa, Europe, and North America.
It is delightful to note that speculative fiction again featured strongly this year. Amongst others, Nigerian writer, Pemi Aguda’s debut story collection, Ghostroots, was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, a feat that affirms Africa’s continued prominence in fiction.
One notable factor for the continued flowering of fiction on the continent is the rise and rise of literary magazines in Africa. Every year, we see new magazines publishing important stories come up and stake a claim in platforming the narratives of Africa. Afrocritik’s job here then is to chronicle the good work for the public and for posterity.
We present our list of remarkable short stories published this year by Africans across the globe, with the caveat that we do not claim to have captured the full breadth of Africa’s prodigious literary output (particularly from Francophone and Arabic spheres). However, we pledge to continue expanding our scope and reach in due course.
“The Lance Corporal’s Door” (Shenandoah Literary) — by Shedrack Akanbi
In this short story, the author captures the intrigue and tension that arises in a military barracks where gossip and curiosity reign supreme, particularly among the wives and mothers who observe every detail with keen interest.
The central figure, David Akanle, a reserved lance corporal in block 072, stands out from his peers in the 68th Regular Recruit Intake, whose wild and often reckless behavior is well-known to the women.
His quiet demeanor and mysterious nature spark their curiosity, setting the stage for a captivating exploration of how rumors and perceptions take root in an insular environment.
The tension between privacy and the insatiable need for information creates an engaging narrative that highlights the social dynamics at play in a world driven by whispers and judgement.
“The Mayor and The Parsley Loving Gorilla” (Doek) — by Kiprop Kimutai
“The Mayor and The Parsley Loving Gorilla” shows a prowess in its subtle yet powerful narrative, where seemingly insignificant moments culminate in profound impact.
There is a consensus in the writer’s words that when change comes – whether at the most unforeseen moment or in the most surprising manner— it can unite even the most unlikely of individuals.
“Abecedarian” (CRAFT) – by HB Asari
HB Asari uses his short story beautifully to illustrate how familial love, in its purest form, transcends the loss of language, communicating a deep bond that speaks louder than even words could.
His voice appears to be a lyrical, understated style, where fragmented sentences which in a profound way allow emotions to resonate.
“Ami Police” (New York Review Of Books) — by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
One of Africa’s finest modern writers, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, tells the story of a woman who is left behind on the beach with a witch who may have turned her into a necklace.
“Ami Police” sees Sarr do what he does best, which is blend the fantastical and the mundane — the extraordinary exists side by side with the ordinary, often without explanation or distinction.
“Prosperity’s Long Song” (Gagosian Quarterly) — by Arinze Ifeakandu
“Prosperity’s Long Song”, set at the Marian Boys’ Boarding School in Nigeria, is a short story that masterfully narrates the country’s political turbulence using rich elements of ancient mythologies and the mystical power of poetry.
Arinze explores Nigeria’s historical struggles, using the school setting as a microcosm of the wider societal chaos. This blending of contemporary Nigerian struggles with ancient legends creates a commentary on the cyclical nature of history.
“Telepathy” (Channel Magazine) – by Frances Ogamba
An old woman longs for the companionship of her children while nursing her hopes of a Biafran dream. Instead of her unreachable children, she finds herself bonding with rodents and small animals around her.
In this subtle story of aging, loneliness, loss, familial bonds, and an unquestioning appreciation of the beauty of nature and the natural world, Ogamba’s well-known talents are brought to the fore.
“The Grit Born” (Dark Magazine) – by Frances Ogamba
One of the most interesting stories published this year, “The Grit Born” follows a woman in desperate need of a child. Finally, she creates the child herself with the help of a magical powder obtained from a secret organisation. But is ill prepared for the result of her desperation.
“The Sound Of Waves” (The Dial) – Carey Baraka
In Carey Baraka’s short story, the protagonist interacts with writers from diverse backgrounds, each with their own experiences and expectations, and the narrative unfolds a quiet exploration of the challenges of ‘understanding’ and ‘falling in love’ with a country whose values and culture are in a way at odds with his own.
The setting of the story in an unnamed Midwestern university serves as both a symbol of the American ideal and a battleground for Cold War-era propaganda.
“The Roar” (World Literature Today) – by Nnamdi Oguike
A window into the manhood initiation rites of the Ogiek people of Kenya, Nnamdi Oguike’s story chronicles the life of a boy, the dynamics of his family, and the culture of his people.
Kimurguk has to contend with a tumultuous transition into manhood while grappling with the fear of not living up to his father’s legacy. The story is, in many ways, reminiscent of Ngugi wa Thiongo’s The River Between.
“Something, Anything” (Afritondo Magazine) – by Ubong Johnson
Suffused with wry and salacious humour, this story happens in a seedy bar one evening. A man in search of a solution to a problem runs into an even more serious problem.
The bar, the events it spawns, and the characters that animate it justify the story’s title; certain places, by the very nature of their composition, are replete with possibility. They are epicentres of somethings and anythings.
“Seeking Ebele” (Passengers Journal) – by Kasimma
The eponymous Ebele, stricken by madness, is herself the subject of our protagonist’s madness. Reality is distorted and hammered into the surreal through poetic language and a narration musical in cadence.
Political in its concerns, this story examines the aftermath of tragedy, state-sanctioned violence, and the malleability of the senses. Kasimma has written one of those tales that tread the fine line between song and story.
“This Is Your Origin Story” (Uncharted Magazine) – by Plangdi Neple
A man discovers that every person he sketches in a parchment ends up in a room in his house. What follows is the depravity, ambition, and churlishness.
A kingmaker, he sees an avenue to elevate his station and his concerns shift from placing the crown on another’s head to putting it on his own head.
“Girls Who Flew at Night” (Native Magazine) – Gabrielle Harry
Set in a Nigerian boarding school, this story is one of girlhood, revenge, and the supernatural. Mr Ibekwe is the no-nonsense Mathematics teacher who delights in the generous use of his cane more than anything else, but his doubling over in the classroom one day is the beginning of a series of bizarre events that end in a macabre feast.
Awarded the Native Horror Stories Prize, Gabrielle Harry has given readers a story to widen their eyes at.
“A Grain of Rice in The Heart of Genocide” (Lolwe) – by Chioniso Tsikisayi
Tsikisayi’s men are trees and can be grown from seedlings. The government is hewing down these men—for the sole purpose of money-printing–but this state-sanctioned nefariousness has its match in the relentlessness of their wives and daughters.
A critique of capitalism and the blatant injustice of the world, this is a story that grounds itself in our undesirable reality of capitalist greed and genocidal oppression while being speculative and dreaming of a future where we all get to sprout undisturbed.
“Faces at Dawn” (Terrain.org) – by Chimezie Chika
Far from being the only story with a futuristic tilt published this year, but certainly one of the best, this is Chimezie Chika’s offering of a world that is neither dystopian nor utopian. Here is a story that defies arbitrary categorisations by constructing a world that boasts of equal parts horror and hope.
In a half-submerged world, a man grapples with his humanity and what it means to serve the empire. Who should borders keep out? How easily ignored is the violence perpetrated for the maintenance of said borders? These are questions traversed in this deeply political and human story.
“The Stone” (The Weganda Review) – Nnamdi Oguike
“The Stone” is a comic story about the brittleness of dreams, hope, and human stupidity. Nnamdi Oguike is a master of mining humour from the many small tragic moments that define life at the lowest level of the human economy. Without doubt, one of the best stories of the year.
“Visa Gods” (The Plentitudes) — by Ber Anena
Ber Anena’s words in “Visa Gods” are a piercing portrayal of bureaucracy’s relentless dehumanization. Each of her sentences cuts through the absurdity with brutal clarity, leaving a stark, suffocating sense of indignity in its wake.
“Memorial Service” (The Adroit Journal) — Ucheoma Onwutuebe
“Memorial Service” is a masterclass in wit, as Ucheoma Onwutuebe uses clever prose and playful tone to bring Umuahia, Nigeria alive on page. And she does this while balancing a sharp wit with a profound thematic depth which makes for a fine read.
“The Goat” (Adda Stories) – by Jean Pierre Nikuze
The story begins dramatically. A woman’s son is stolen at the hospital where she went to give birth to it. Her husband disappears shortly afterwards and she is left lonely and aggrieved. In the interval, she develops a poignant relationship with a goat.
“Maggie” (The Muse Journal) – by Naomi Eseolojor
What Roy Udeh-Ubaka’s “Return to Me” does for male septuagenarian loneliness is what Eseolojor’s “Maggie” does for female septuagenarian loneliness, only that the former extends the scope of its concerns.
In a world we can safely assume is futuristic, an elderly woman grieving her dead daughter grapples with grief and the after-effects of a corporation exploiting her nostalgia for profit.
“10th Cloud Service” (Iskanchi) — by Noni. R. Mwangi
Noni. R. Mwangi’s Iskanchi Magazine Prize shortlisted story is the portrayal of a nation’s struggles, as she uses fiction to weave together the personal and political. Noni’s fiction serves as a mirror to real events, capturing the collective spirit of a people grappling with uncertainty.
“Return to Me” (Lolwe) — by Roy Udeh-Ubaka
Roy Udeh-Ubaka’s short story gracefully unfolds with a gentle narrative tone, its carefully maintained pace allowing for a thoughtful and immersive experience that resonates long after the final words. The writer is a master of subtlety whose precision does nothing less than captivate a reader.
“House No. 49” (Adda Stories) – by Olajide Omojarabi
This story takes the pitiless world of football talent hunt as its subject. A group of young indigent boys with dreams of being footballers in Europe try to go for a trial at a supposed famous academy.
What they encounter there reveals how the hopes of the poor are often mercilessly exploited by a class of rich sharks posing as saviors.
“Uncle” (Along House) – by Lutivini Majanja
Lutivini Majanja’s “Uncle” is presented as a reflective mirror, revealing how the unearthing of lies can impact connections. What makes this story so daring is the way its key details are unveiled – Lutivini is a master at controlled yet creative revelation.
“Things We See Under Water” (Omenana) – by Prosper C. Ifeanyi
Navi, an Ijaw boy in the year 3060, is captured after an alien invasion of his homeland in the Niger Delta. Ifeanyi’s story is proof that even in the most cataclysmic of futures, humanity will exist, and community might be the only way in which the world will be kept on course.
While ambitious and forward-looking, it is well-grounded and exhilarating enough to keep one till the end.
“Our Best Days” (Exposition) — by Kabubu Mutua
“Our Best Days” has a sauce that lies in the way the story is a commentary on itself, a meta-narrative that both challenges and entertains a reader.
Kabubu Mutua both acknowledges and subverts familiar tropes, creating a sense of deliberate dissonance between what readers expect and what unfolds.
“The Big Canoe” (AprilCentaur) – Desmond Chidera Udeh
Well-told colonial stories are one of the best reads in African literature, for they provide critical pointers to the lost memories of our past and the reason why Africa is what it is today. Udeh’s story is one of those whose plot captures these concerns on many different levels.
The story begins when two boys swimming in a river spies a ship nearing the shores of their land. What came afterwards appeared at first to be a beneficial relationship to the locals, only to churn with intrigues and exploitation.
“Animals” (ZYZZYVA) – by Uche Okonkwo
Shortlisted for the Caine Prize for Writing for this story, Okonkwo, who released her debut collection this year presents to us snapshots of middle-class Nigerian family life.
In Animals, a young boy desperately wants the life of a chicken bought for soup to be spared, and it is around this singular desire that the idiosyncrasies of the family members are revealed. Okonkwo is a writer who understands her characters’ minds and what makes them tick.
“Boy Lazarus” (Lolwe) – by Ema Babikwa
The beauty of this short story lies in its quiet yet profound exploration of liminality—the uncertain. The narrative gracefully navigates the unease of this transitional phase, with a tone that’s both wistful and contemplative.
At the heart of the story also is the fine exploration of a relationship between a mother and son.
“Home is Closed to Strangers” (Isele Magazine) – by Chinelo Orji
A young girl who has just been sent to a Nigerian boarding school from Atlanta settles grudgingly into her new life and eventually witnesses a tragedy which changes the lives of everyone at the school.
“Catching the Wind” (Akpata Magazine) – by Theophilus Mshelia Sokuma
A relationship is cut short by a sudden death leaving a lover and a mother to deal with the intractable pain of losing a loved one. Bolaji’s mother is forced to come to terms with the sexuality of her late son, after years of living in denial.
This is a story about love, loss, Lagos, and how a tragedy can also be the shifting of a shadow.
“Sweet Basils” (Love Grows Stronger in Death) – by Chinonso Nzeh
A simplistic explanation of this story would be: In the aftermath of losing her father, Ralu navigates guilt and her family. But it is a story much more profound and more ambitious than that. It is a story about a woman whose values are in stark contrast to her family’s and where she came out of.
It is also a story about a father’s love, a love so immense that it defies death. Nzeh is a writer who is emotionally and psychically attuned to his characters; he understands their motivations and ensures that these motivations are unambiguous to his reader.
“Isn’t It Kinder” (Omenana) – by Lynn Nyaera Onywere
Two women, members of a human civilisation dwelling beneath the ocean after what we understand to be a climate disaster, converse about the fate of their subterranean world and what lies in store for it.
Almost cautionary in tone, the story is about a future in which our earth has become almost unliveable. May’s cynicism is portentous but the optimism—interpretable as blatant naivete—in Sue’s voice seems to harbour a glimmer of hope.
“Desperate Ark Wives” (Haven Spec Magazine) – by Somto Ihezue
Somto Ihezue’s exciting yarn of a story flips the biblical tale of Noah and the flood on its head. In Ihezue’s story, we learn that the few women in the Ark are witches planning to destabilise all that Noah has built and usurp God’s control. Fantasy has never been as exciting as we find it in this story.
“Instant Coffee” (Efiko) — by Amanda Nechesa
Amanda Nechesa’s coming of age short story has a beauty that emerges from the way it intertwines the simplicity of childhood with the deeper, known realities of human life.
The story has a narrator whose vulnerability is reflected in her understanding of ‘coffee’s’ deeper significance—how it relates to family, livelihood, and community— it demonstrates her innocence as she grows up hinting at the larger world and realities that await her.
Chimezie Chika’s short stories and essays have appeared in or forthcoming from, amongst other places, The Weganda Review, The Republic, Terrain.org, Isele Magazine, Lolwe, Fahmidan Journal, Efiko Magazine, Dappled Things, Channel Magazine and Afrocritik. He is the fiction editor of Ngiga Review. His interests range from culture, history, to art, literature, and the environment. You can find him on Twitter @chimeziechika1.
Frank Njugi is a Kenyan Writer, Culture journalist and Critic who has written on the East African and African culture scene for platforms such as Debunk Media, Republic Journal, Sinema Focus, Culture Africa, The Elephant, Wakilisha Africa, The Moveee, Africa in Dialogue, Afrocritik and others. He tweets as @franknjugi.
Onyekachi Iloh is a writer, poet, and photographer living in Nigeria.
Evidence Egwuono Adjarho is a Gen-Z who loves God. She enjoys reading books and writing about them. Finally, she is an undergraduate studying English at the University of Lagos.