Chika Unigwe's Blog, page 3
September 13, 2019
How to Survive a Heat Wave
The good people of Lithub (!!) have published one of the stories from my forthcoming collection. If you'd like to read How to Survive a Heatwave, please click on: https://lithub.com/how-to-survive-a-h...
If you enjoy it, please share and spread word about the collection (out October 22)
Peace!
If you enjoy it, please share and spread word about the collection (out October 22)
Peace!
How to Survive a Heat Wave
The good people of Lithub (!!) have published one of the stories from my forthcoming collection. If you'd like to read How to Survive a Heatwave, please click on: https://lithub.com/how-to-survive-a-h...
If you enjoy it, please share and spread word about the collection (out October 22)
Peace!
PS
My dog likes to sleep with lights on
He hates darkness too you see
It’s not rocket science , not parsing a poem into bits to find its heart , not swirling wine in your mouth to taste that elusive sexiness they speak of
Even a dog knows : every darkness needs some light
And some say Fridays are the light of the week
If you enjoy it, please share and spread word about the collection (out October 22)
Peace!
PS
My dog likes to sleep with lights on
He hates darkness too you see
It’s not rocket science , not parsing a poem into bits to find its heart , not swirling wine in your mouth to taste that elusive sexiness they speak of
Even a dog knows : every darkness needs some light
And some say Fridays are the light of the week
September 12, 2019
Writing Prompts
I've been enjoying thinking up original writing prompts for my 2 classes this semester, and repeating some original ones that were super popular last semester.
To practice writing humor, I give out a list of 20 cheesy pick up lines , and the students have to use one or more in a story. Nothing gets a class of young students laughing and excited as much as a list that includes, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven because I swear, you're an angel."
To practice speculative fiction
I ask them to write a scene set in thier classroom or on campus xxx years from now
A man walks into his apartment and finds a family he doesn't know in his sitting room, watching TV. They do not acknowledge him, and when he says hi, only one bothers to answer him...
Your character is in a cafe, an older or a younger version of themselves sits down beside them
What are your favorite prompts? Do you like prompts? Do you find them useful?
To practice writing humor, I give out a list of 20 cheesy pick up lines , and the students have to use one or more in a story. Nothing gets a class of young students laughing and excited as much as a list that includes, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven because I swear, you're an angel."
To practice speculative fiction
I ask them to write a scene set in thier classroom or on campus xxx years from now
A man walks into his apartment and finds a family he doesn't know in his sitting room, watching TV. They do not acknowledge him, and when he says hi, only one bothers to answer him...
Your character is in a cafe, an older or a younger version of themselves sits down beside them
What are your favorite prompts? Do you like prompts? Do you find them useful?
September 4, 2019
Better Never than Late 2
What does it feel like to live , to love, to mourn in a foreign tongue ? To want to go home but home has pulled the rug from under your feet and you cannot / won’t return? To survive in a space where nothing you knew mattered? To still find love and joy and laughter in the crevices and folds of everyday living in a land so foreign you no longer recognize yourself ? These are some of the questions the stories in this collection attempt to interrogate /explore/ shine a light on/answer
Are you a book blogger ? Interested in blogging and reviewing Better Never than Later? My publishers would love to hear from you :)
Chika
Homesickness is an apple stuck in my throat
is malaria on my tongue
is a heart so heavy it feels like the first time it got broken
Homesickness is a longing a wanting a needing to be
homesickless
Are you a book blogger ? Interested in blogging and reviewing Better Never than Later? My publishers would love to hear from you :)
Chika
Homesickness is an apple stuck in my throat
is malaria on my tongue
is a heart so heavy it feels like the first time it got broken
Homesickness is a longing a wanting a needing to be
homesickless
September 3, 2019
Booker Shortlist
The 2019 Booker Shortlist has been announced and my top 3 books are on it: An Ochestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak. I am thrilled. I love it when deserving books get rewarded with prizes, when good things happen to good humans and when it seems, even just for a day, that there isn't much wrong with the world.
September 2, 2019
Better Never than Late
This is the month my new collection comes out and am I excited! It's also received it's first review (Yay!!!!!)
https://thelagosreview.ng/review-of-c...
https://thelagosreview.ng/review-of-c...
Better Never than Late
This is the month my new collection comes out and am I excited! It's also received it's first review (Yay!!!!!)
https://thelagosreview.ng/review-of-c...
https://thelagosreview.ng/review-of-c...
August 23, 2019
Bethlehem
This is a short story I wrote (3 years ago?) It made me sad to write it (I like writing happy stories!) but a lot of people have said they enjoyed it. Postpartum depression is not nearly explored enough in fiction , but it is real and yet grossly misunderstood in some cultures. Years ago, a Nigerian woman I know suffered from it after giving birth (and not even her doctor understood it.) "You've just had a baby, enjoy her!" she was told. It was , she said to me, the loneliest period of her life. Luckily for her, her husband understood it and was her strongest advocate in getting the help she needed.
BETHLEHEM
by Chika Unigwe
The baby lay on its side, smelling of newness, swaddled in a blue fleece blanket embroidered with an ornate “B” for Beth, short for Bethlehem. She was a miracle baby.
Her cot was in the middle of the room with the yellow-coloured walls. “Sun yellow,” the paint catalog had called it. “Sun yellow to make our baby sunny,” Chiwetalu had said, which swayed Chimelumma to pick that yellow over the green that she had favored. Chimelumma had gotten her way with the rug, though: dark, lush. “Green for life,” she had told him. “Can’t argue with life,” Chiwetalu said. “Life above all else.”
Chimelumma reached to pick the baby up, but the panic that she had been fighting since her husband had left for work seized her and she stopped midway, hands hovering indecisively above the infant. A puppeteer’s hands. Chimelumma gazed at the bundle of blue, trying to summon up strength. Strength enough to defeat the weight that stayed her hands. Her arms dropped to her side. Dead weight was what came to her mind. Dead weight.
You can read the rest here:
https://www.onethrone.com/bethlehem
BETHLEHEM
by Chika Unigwe
The baby lay on its side, smelling of newness, swaddled in a blue fleece blanket embroidered with an ornate “B” for Beth, short for Bethlehem. She was a miracle baby.
Her cot was in the middle of the room with the yellow-coloured walls. “Sun yellow,” the paint catalog had called it. “Sun yellow to make our baby sunny,” Chiwetalu had said, which swayed Chimelumma to pick that yellow over the green that she had favored. Chimelumma had gotten her way with the rug, though: dark, lush. “Green for life,” she had told him. “Can’t argue with life,” Chiwetalu said. “Life above all else.”
Chimelumma reached to pick the baby up, but the panic that she had been fighting since her husband had left for work seized her and she stopped midway, hands hovering indecisively above the infant. A puppeteer’s hands. Chimelumma gazed at the bundle of blue, trying to summon up strength. Strength enough to defeat the weight that stayed her hands. Her arms dropped to her side. Dead weight was what came to her mind. Dead weight.
You can read the rest here:
https://www.onethrone.com/bethlehem
August 13, 2019
On ‘Several’ and ‘Severally’ (and the Mutability of Language
On ‘Several’ and ‘Severally’
Language evolves, new words and new phrases push old ones out or old words acquire new usage, old rules are broken to make way for new ones and so on and so forth : I am aware of this. In fact, the mutability and the flexibility and the docility (or perhaps rebelliousness?) of language, particularly of the English language excite me. The Nigerian case even delights me more: that a language created to bamboozle and confound us (think of all the rules, the spellings that don’t make sense) can be brought to its knees and moulded into forms that in turn confound the colonialists is sweet revenge. However, to quote Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” I use variations of this quote in class to remind students that the difference between ‘playing with language’ and ‘misusing language’ is in knowing that you are doing it, in being intentional about it.
There’s perhaps no other word so unintentionally misused in Nigeria as ‘severally.’ It sounds like it should be a natural and obvious synonym for ‘several times.’ Brethren, don’t let that fool you, it is anything but.
‘Severally’ means:
1.
separately, individually, or distinctly
2.
each in turn; respectively (Collins Dictionary)
(And this from www.businessdictionary.com):
Exclusively, separately, singly, or solely: a severally-owned property is owned by one entity only, and being severally responsible for a debt or obligation is to be solely-responsible for its payment or satisfaction.
Examples of usage (taken from sentencedict.com and businessdictionary.com)
(1) These issues can be considered severally, or as a whole.
(2) They had all severally reached the same conclusion.
(3) Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent.
(4) Partners are jointly and severally liable for a partnership's debts.
(5) It was a severally owned place, which meant that he was the only owner and all of us would need permission from him to do business.
So, please, brethren, if you think this is a word you ever want to use (especially in writing and in formal settings), go thee forth and use it properly.
PS Perhaps, I am the one who’s behind on how the usage of ‘severally’ has already changed in Nigerian English, and has joined other words like ‘gist’ and ‘opportuned’ and most recently ‘swallow’ to become peculiarly Nigerian in usage. I am here for that change.
Except for ‘swallow.’ I still can’t bring myself to call fufu ‘swallow.’ It's not my portion abeg! :)
Language evolves, new words and new phrases push old ones out or old words acquire new usage, old rules are broken to make way for new ones and so on and so forth : I am aware of this. In fact, the mutability and the flexibility and the docility (or perhaps rebelliousness?) of language, particularly of the English language excite me. The Nigerian case even delights me more: that a language created to bamboozle and confound us (think of all the rules, the spellings that don’t make sense) can be brought to its knees and moulded into forms that in turn confound the colonialists is sweet revenge. However, to quote Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” I use variations of this quote in class to remind students that the difference between ‘playing with language’ and ‘misusing language’ is in knowing that you are doing it, in being intentional about it.
There’s perhaps no other word so unintentionally misused in Nigeria as ‘severally.’ It sounds like it should be a natural and obvious synonym for ‘several times.’ Brethren, don’t let that fool you, it is anything but.
‘Severally’ means:
1.
separately, individually, or distinctly
2.
each in turn; respectively (Collins Dictionary)
(And this from www.businessdictionary.com):
Exclusively, separately, singly, or solely: a severally-owned property is owned by one entity only, and being severally responsible for a debt or obligation is to be solely-responsible for its payment or satisfaction.
Examples of usage (taken from sentencedict.com and businessdictionary.com)
(1) These issues can be considered severally, or as a whole.
(2) They had all severally reached the same conclusion.
(3) Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent.
(4) Partners are jointly and severally liable for a partnership's debts.
(5) It was a severally owned place, which meant that he was the only owner and all of us would need permission from him to do business.
So, please, brethren, if you think this is a word you ever want to use (especially in writing and in formal settings), go thee forth and use it properly.
PS Perhaps, I am the one who’s behind on how the usage of ‘severally’ has already changed in Nigerian English, and has joined other words like ‘gist’ and ‘opportuned’ and most recently ‘swallow’ to become peculiarly Nigerian in usage. I am here for that change.
Except for ‘swallow.’ I still can’t bring myself to call fufu ‘swallow.’ It's not my portion abeg! :)
On ‘Several’ and ‘Severally’ (and the Mutability of Language
On ‘Several’ and ‘Severally’
Language evolves, new words and new phrases push old ones out or old words acquire new usage, old rules are broken to make way for new ones and so on and so forth : I am aware of this. In fact, the mutability and the flexibility and the docility (or perhaps rebelliousness?) of language, particularly of the English language excite me. The Nigerian case even delights me more: that a language created to bamboozle and confound us (think of all the rules, the spellings that don’t make sense) can be brought to its knees and moulded into forms that in turn confound the colonialists is sweet revenge. However, to quote Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” I use variations of this quote in class to remind students that the difference between ‘playing with language’ and ‘misusing language’ is in knowing that you are doing it, in being intentional about it.
There’s perhaps no other word so unintentionally misused in Nigeria as ‘severally.’ It sounds like it should be a natural and obvious synonym for ‘several times.’ Brethren, don’t let that fool you, it is anything but.
‘Severally’ means:
1.
separately, individually, or distinctly
2.
each in turn; respectively (Collins Dictionary)
(And this from www.businessdictionary.com):
Exclusively, separately, singly, or solely: a severally-owned property is owned by one entity only, and being severally responsible for a debt or obligation is to be solely-responsible for its payment or satisfaction.
Examples of usage (taken from sentencedict.com and businessdictionary.com)
(1) These issues can be considered severally, or as a whole.
(2) They had all severally reached the same conclusion.
(3) Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent.
(4) Partners are jointly and severally liable for a partnership's debts.
(5) It was a severally owned place, which meant that he was the only owner and all of us would need permission from him to do business.
So, please, brethren, if you think this is a word you ever want to use (especially in writing and in formal settings), go thee forth and use it properly.
PS Perhaps, I am the one who’s behind on how the usage of ‘severally’ has already changed in Nigerian English, and has joined other words like ‘gist’ and ‘opportuned’ and most recently ‘swallow’ to become peculiarly Nigerian in usage. I am here for that change.
Except for ‘swallow.’ I still can’t bring myself to call fufu ‘swallow.’ It's not my portion abeg! :)
Language evolves, new words and new phrases push old ones out or old words acquire new usage, old rules are broken to make way for new ones and so on and so forth : I am aware of this. In fact, the mutability and the flexibility and the docility (or perhaps rebelliousness?) of language, particularly of the English language excite me. The Nigerian case even delights me more: that a language created to bamboozle and confound us (think of all the rules, the spellings that don’t make sense) can be brought to its knees and moulded into forms that in turn confound the colonialists is sweet revenge. However, to quote Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” I use variations of this quote in class to remind students that the difference between ‘playing with language’ and ‘misusing language’ is in knowing that you are doing it, in being intentional about it.
There’s perhaps no other word so unintentionally misused in Nigeria as ‘severally.’ It sounds like it should be a natural and obvious synonym for ‘several times.’ Brethren, don’t let that fool you, it is anything but.
‘Severally’ means:
1.
separately, individually, or distinctly
2.
each in turn; respectively (Collins Dictionary)
(And this from www.businessdictionary.com):
Exclusively, separately, singly, or solely: a severally-owned property is owned by one entity only, and being severally responsible for a debt or obligation is to be solely-responsible for its payment or satisfaction.
Examples of usage (taken from sentencedict.com and businessdictionary.com)
(1) These issues can be considered severally, or as a whole.
(2) They had all severally reached the same conclusion.
(3) Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent.
(4) Partners are jointly and severally liable for a partnership's debts.
(5) It was a severally owned place, which meant that he was the only owner and all of us would need permission from him to do business.
So, please, brethren, if you think this is a word you ever want to use (especially in writing and in formal settings), go thee forth and use it properly.
PS Perhaps, I am the one who’s behind on how the usage of ‘severally’ has already changed in Nigerian English, and has joined other words like ‘gist’ and ‘opportuned’ and most recently ‘swallow’ to become peculiarly Nigerian in usage. I am here for that change.
Except for ‘swallow.’ I still can’t bring myself to call fufu ‘swallow.’ It's not my portion abeg! :)
