Akwaeke Emezi demonstrates how Nigeria's contemporary writers turn our conceptual realities around. They offer a YA novel that doesn't condescend, but more, one which shows that we should not "walk away" from Omelas, but perhaps "Stay and Hunt." This is...

Why have so few read Soyinka? And can we find hope through his cynical dramas? I admit I am a victim of the myth-making around me which has made Soyinka and other African writers largely invisible. Let's see why. Episode 6.24 - Words from Nigeria Pt 2:...

  What sort of literature is this, anyway? Today we introduce some approaches to Nigerian literature, offer a bevy of African writers, and explore how one of Nigeria's most powerful authors can write her own modest letter to humanity. Also, we learn...

  And what if nobody listens? Yes, entering our calls for justice into public space carries no small amount of anxiety. And the poster-child for being unheard, the Trojan princess and priestess Cassandra, may--if we read our mythology...

  26 Dec 2025 Episode 6.21 - Writing Back: Letters to Humanity A different sort of New Year Resolution, moving us from personal improvement to public advocacy! Let's write an essay of address, framing our passions into a perspective that would make...

  19 Dec 2025 Episode 6.20 - The Great Societies: Lowry's The Giver Another thorny utopia, Lowry's Community practices a different kind of strategy to the Hideous Bargain: ethical evasion, a too tempting strategy for all of us. Political? Yes. But...

  12 Dec 2025 Episode 6.19 - The Great Societies, Pt 2: Metropolis & The Ways of Meaning We finish our discussion of the silent film Metropolis and answer our question of art and politics by examining the text, context, and reader meaning-making....

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It seems everything is politics these days. But at least can’t we keep art pure? You know, art for art’s sake? I offer my thoughts on the topic while we examine the classic silent film, Metropolis (1927).

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We finish our side trail on the implications of Poe’s horror by stepping more deeply into our own capacity to violence, reaching finally to Le Guin’s own direction: look to our modern political scene and the impulse to annihilation.

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We say Poe has influence the genre of horror, but have we really considered what that influence has revealed to us across the generations? What happens when we tell stories of a culture that has abandoned its moral foundations?