Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah Is a Beautiful Book Olumide Holloway (King Olulu) · March 2026 It’s funny that I think of it as being beautiful given some of the tragic events therein. The book’s main themes seem to be love, tradition, belonging, and cruelty. The book is history repeating itself in different generations because every […]
Dairo Goodness wins the Motoni Olodun Slam on a night that tested talent, depth, and direction On Saturday, January 31st, Kinora Restaurant by the Assembly in Ogbomoso hosted the first-ever slam poetry competition in the city. Branded the Motoni Olodun Slam, the event marked the 4th anniversary of the rebirth of Open Mic Ogbomoso, a […]
Over the past decade, I have read poems that were, in many ways, memoirs of everyday people. Not memoirs in the traditional sense, but little records of ordinary life: poems about growing up, falling in love, losing someone, being broke, leaving home, finding faith, questioning God, navigating friendship, surviving heartbreak, watching a country change. Some […]
OPEN MIC OGBOMOSO · VOLUME I · YEAR FOUR The Room, Gathered into a Book EWÌ ’MOSHO is the first official anthology from Open Mic Ogbomoso. It gathers writing that first lived before an audience: poems spoken aloud, carried through the room and preserved beyond a single performance. 24 poems Selected for the 2026 Reader […]
Four years ago, I was out of a job and had just relocated from Maiduguri to Ogbomoso. It was a difficult season. In the middle of that uncertainty, I returned to spoken word poetry, something that has steadied me in my darkest moments. Through Vic’Adex Concepts and Aesthetic Resources, I scraped together Open Mic Ogbomoso. […]
“Grant me chastity and self-control — but not yet.” — Saint Augustine, Confessions Tweet There are books that tell you what a man feels, and there are books that tell you what a man believes about himself when no one is looking. Poetry Has All My Pain belongs firmly to the latter. It is not simply […]
A welcome note for Bloom & Essence, Okunade Olamilekan’s debut solo exhibition, held at the British Council, Ikoyi, Lagos, on 22–23 November 2025. Extracts appeared in the exhibition catalogue’s “Soundbites” section. You’re welcome. Not just to an exhibition, but into a conversation… This debut solo exhibition by Okunade Olamilekan is one about who we are, […]
Original poetry Men, not gods Poem by Vic’Adex · 2015 Men, Not gods – Vic’Adex I see men dangling Upon the pikesOf a sentence called lifeMan treating her like a despicable imprisonment And in prison good behaviour gets you paroledMaybe that’s why good people die early Too often we pray to a god to pay […]