Read Taboo Now
A small Lagos family goes through a tragic loss, and now, 20 years later, they are looking for answers.
A prominent man in society must hide the circumstances of his first wife's death from others. But his cunning, authoritative second wife is suspicious, and his young, and mostly clueless junior wife finds out his secret. What will they do with it? And, just as importantly, what will they do with him?
A small family's fate has been tied to a mysterious Mugomo tree for what seems like generations. If they cut it, they might fall with it, but they need to be free.
Taboo is a collection of ten poems and short stories, where African writers explore the idea of taboo in cultural expression, behaviour, and artistic forms. We believe that culture sets rules, artists break them, then new culture evolves. And this is how artistic innovation is born. Taboo is our way of breaking the rules set for African writers, bringing you artistic innovation fueled by our identity.
You can also buy Taboo on your favorite reading platforms!
Wunmi's dull and lonely life jolts awake when a dispatch rider delivers a mysterious book present to her workplace. The moment she flips the book open, she knows nothing about her will ever remain the same again.
Mama Naza's Salon is about to be demolished alongside the other stalls in Onitsha Market, but not before spilling all the gossip it has collected over the years. The juiciest of all concerns the salon's three attendants, Nelo, Samty, and Amaka, whose tangled love lives are enough to keep you entertained through your entire visit.
In a wealthy neighborhood where children learn gossip before they learn empathy, four friends spend the bulk of their days watching the world from behind sheer curtains learning firsthand how beautiful but also cruel the world could be.
In a small Nigerian community, a neighborhood dispute detonates into violence, fracturing a family of four. As the survivors are dragged through a desolate landscape of grief, they are forced to confront the limits of the love that binds them.
Kidnappers in Lagos have become desperate, moving from abducting high profile, wealthy victims to pulling ordinary everyday citizens off the street. Nene, a widowed petty trader finds herself face to face with this blinding terror.
In a futuristic Lagos, the rules for survival have changed: love or leave the world. With one week left to find a partner and save herself, Anire makes a last-ditch attempt to survive past her would-be execution date of Valentine's Day.
Set in a small street where boys dedicate their evenings to street football and dreams of being European players, Football Evenings tells a story of boyhood and the quiet distance of adulthood to boyish innocence. Football Evenings sheds light on the way kindness, ambition and contradictions can exist in a society alongside the vibrancy of children who only care about their football and laughter-filled games.
A newcomer to tech attends her first industry event, unsure of herself and her place in the room. There, she meets someone whose presence forces her to confront a truth about herself she’s long avoided.
In a sleepy town, tucked away in South Eastern Nigeria, evil lurks in the background and this time, it is seeking new mothers, driving them to insanity before disappearing with them. In this story, postpartum is a metaphor for Nwanyi Mmiri, the eater of new mothers and safety pins are symbolic in Nigerian culture to protect pregnant and new mothers from evil spirits. The protagonist’s family is rocked with sorrow when her elder sister gives birth and comes home. She descends into madness, blurring the lines between reality and vivid dreams before disappearing.
Nnenne vows to get to the root of her sister’s disappearance by working in the police Force and stopping other women from falling prey? Will she be successful or be overwhelmed by the darkness that devoured her sister?
Bruised by her father’s vicious indifference, a young, Nigerian woman wonders how she can force the world to hear her family’s screams. Raised in a world that oft turns its back on the young, female and oppressed, she knows that a girl has no choice but to take matters into her own, baby-smooth hands.