In the three months I’ve worked at Iko Africa, I’ve found that my favourite part of this new job has been the people. From my ridiculously kind and talented colleagues here at the Iko Mafia- our innovative content curators, to the incredible community members who engage with the work on our platform and give so much substance and context through their sharing and commenting. The fact so many have bought into our shared dream makes this whole enterprise worth it. 

The work on Iko Africa is not a monolith, and storytelling takes on so many genres and forms thanks to the brilliant writers on the platform, whose work we will spotlight today. Here’s a selection of stories we loved on Iko: 

“After I turned 16, I wrote in my diary “Who are you? What will you become?” and in the years after that, each version of myself has peeled away like a snake shedding its skin as I've reached new ages.”

How often do you see a birthday coming up and feel that pit deepening in your stomach? In “Magic of New Beginnings”, Ounah Goodness Iheoma muses on ageing and defying the anxieties it brings. 

Tensions run in Hannah Benjamin’s “Gallery of Broken Hearts”, an action-filled, nail-biting teen-fiction. An ode to the lonely ones who have had to deal with any kind of childhood trauma. Hannah Benjamin tells a story about living in an uncertain world and of the days we sink deep, with nothing left but hope that we'll see the light. 

“When I first listened to Obongjayar's Some Nights I Dream Of Doors, it was the first time I had the courage to dream. An intoxicating dream that was woven from my own skin. At first, it felt foreign, but what's foreign about the linen shielding your heart all along from its own pain? Not just yours but the pain gifted to you by the pottery hands that made you.”

Izogié Emokaro’s  “Some Nights I Dream Of Doors” reads like a fever dream. It is a story of parenthood, otherness, and the courage to be yourself even when the world rejects you. 

Is a thing beautiful even in its slow death? In “I HELD OUT A HAND, BUT IT WAS TOO LATE”, Aliyah Maruf explores relationships and the things that kill them. “I was throwing money at everything. I was throwing money at you, and I hadn't even realised it.” Maruf writes, If I had paid more attention, I would have seen the beginning of the end.” For every paragraph, we were treated to poignant prose that felt relatable, sad and beautiful. 

As his album Presido La Pluto recently dropped, it is totally worth revisiting the musician who has given me so much joy this year.  Shallipopi is undoubtedly taking 2023 for what it's worth, and in “Love it or Hate it”, Emmanuel Eyo (I know, I know), who admits he’s not a huge fan, explores his mastery of polarisation to great effect. I happen to like Shallipopi, so I will happily feed him to the wolves (again). In his words, “His music leaves no room for neutrality; it's either a perfect 10 or a resounding 0. Through this avant-garde approach, Shallipopi ensures that his art remains impossible to ignore, consistently keeping audiences engaged in discussions.”

While our dear Emmanuel was fighting plutomaniacs on the app formerly known as Twitter, Veronica Sylvester pondered on the future of renewable energy. In “Does the Future of Renewable Energy depend on Hydrogen.” Sylvester makes a case for Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, as a potential game-changer in the global effort to reduce carbon emissions.

See you around on Iko!

Albert Nkereuwem. 

Editorial, Iko Africa