WEALTH OF IDEAS

photo by Ken Wilson Starting with the Bees On August 17, 2013,  I was a featured reader at the "Foam on the Mouth" poetry series in Sacramento, California. Some of the poems I read were centered on the two hills pictured above. I still have strong memories of the hills, all the things we did, the games we played when we were young. The photo was taken from the peak of Chisiya Hill, which I have characteristically called my hill, because I grew up in its shadow.   The smaller hill is called Chigorira. Our home was situated between the two hills. This allowed me to be a part of the hills as they were a part of me. I knew every cave in both hills, and ate all kinds of fruits and edible roots I could find on and around the hills. I knew some of the secrets the hills harbored.   They were equally a source of joy as they were a source of fear. Like most hills in the areas, they had dangers: snakes, scorpions and the occasional hyena or wild ...

We had just finished the meeting with the headmaster, who called for schedule flexibility as rains raged. Moyo suggested we require students to prove their absence or tardiness was rain-related. A local teacher from Ngorima village said, “Just ask them to show lightning bruises.” The meeting ended amidst light laughter as we filed to the assembly point. Outside, we were greeted by chaos. Three students ran towards us, screaming and pointing in the direction of Mozambique. They were calling the river near the school a thief. The headmaster shook his head and said, “Trouble.”   “We told her, but she didn’t listen!” said one student. “We told Tambu!” “Calm down, ” said the headmaster. “The evil one slapped her on a rock and swept her away.” “What evil one?” the Math teacher asked. “The river! We ran along the banks, and we ran!” The student’s statement looped into a scream, and the others joined. “Tambuuuuuuuu!”   “Which Tambu is this?” I asked Andrew, my Form 3 stu...

      PRESENTS     James Arthur, Natalie Diaz, and Tomas Q. Morin   Monday, June 10 at 7:30 PM SPC at 1719 25th Street Host: Emmanuel Sigauke   James Arthur 's poems have appeared in The New Yorker , The New Republic , Poetry, and The American Poetry Review. He has received the Amy Lowell Travelling Poetry Scholarship, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, an Amy Clampitt Residency, and a Discovery/ The Nation Prize. His first book, Charms against Lightning , is a poetic bildungsroman organized around the theme of awakening from a "ghost world" in order to journey toward a definition of selfhood. Romantic in spirit and contemporary in outlook, Arthur's poems are rhythmical, elastic, and expressive. During 2012-2013, Arthur will be a Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts in Princeton. Charms against Lightning will be published by Copper Canyon Press in October 2012. http://www.jamesarthurpoetry.com/ The Land of Nod ...

I feel inspired to join the Caine Blogging Carnival this year. I might share a few comments here and there. I have already interviewed one of the authors, Chinelo Okparanta, and if I can track all of them down, I may request interviews with the others. I really want to talk to Pede Hollist pronto! Just enjoyed his story today; that one spoke to me with a certain urgency. I tend to like the stories taking us to America, for obvious reasons, but I have already crossed  out "Miracle", which I found charming, but deeply shallow (maybe that's why it was chosen). The shortlisted stories for the 2013 Caine Prize are [links to pdfs]: “Bayan Layi,” by Elnathan John “Miracle,” by Tope Folarin “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist “The Whispering Tree,” by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta The top 3 for me are these: “Foreign Aid,” by Pede Hollist “The Whispering Tree,” by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim “America,” by Chinelo Okparanta "Whispering Tre...

Chinelo Okparanta I just interviewed one of the writers shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize, Chinelo Okparanta. Here is the interview in part. Emmanuel Sigauke (ES) : Congratulations for being shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. Tell us how you felt when you found out that you were on this list. Chinelo Okparanta (CO) : Thank you, Emmanuel. When I heard the news I was happy and grateful. But nervous too. We write with the hope that our stories will be read, and prior to the Caine shortlist, my story “America” was certainly read. But the Caine Prize nomination has meant that the story has become accessible to a much wider audience than previously anticipated, which in turn means greater responsibility on my part. Also, a greater sense of vulnerability. ES: Port Harcourt features prominently as setting in your collection Happiness, Like Water. How has this place shaped your writing? As a writer, where are you most at home, United State...

And here are the details from the Caine Prize website: The shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced today (Wednesday 15 May) – and among the five stories chosen are an unprecedented four Nigerian entries.   The Chair of judges, art historian and broadcaster, Gus Casely-Hayford said, “The shortlist was selected from 96 entries from 16 African countries. They are all outstanding African stories that were drawn from an extraordinary body of high quality submissions.”   Gus described the shortlist saying, “The five contrasting titles interrogate aspects of things that we might feel we know of Africa – violence, religion, corruption, family, community – but these are subjects that are deconstructed and beautifully remade. These are challenging, arresting, provocative stories of a continent and its descendants captured at a time of burgeoning change.”   The winner of the £10,000 prize is to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the B...

  Presents   Phillip Larrea and Jan Haag   Monday, May 13, 2013 at 7:30 PM 1719 25th Street at SPC Host: Emmanuel Sigauke       Phillip Larrea is a syndicated columnist, and has been a widely published poet in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Some of his favorite credits include Commonline Journal, The Rusty Nail , and Decades Review in the U.S., as well as Poetry Bus Magazine, Outburst, Nazar Look , and Silver Bow Anthology 2012 , internationally. Phillip studied poetry with Thom Gunn and Karl Shapiro at U.C. Davis, back in the day when tablets were made of stone. His chapbook, Our Patch (Writing Knights Press), was released January 2013. Phillip’s full-length poetry collection, We the People (Cold River Press), was released in April, 2013. Closing Time I leave some paper on the bar. Thank my Host for a pretty good time. All work for Him, I know. I pretend we are on good terms, nonetheless. Most of my fellow revelers have left. ...