If you know me in real life or online (not sure if these two things are still distinguishable), you’d know I can’t go a day without mentioning Lesley Nneka Arimah and her work and what they mean to me. This week on On & About, I will be talking about this phenomenal writer reading one of the stories from her critically acclaimed collection What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky.
The story War Stories is one of the most remarkable stories in that collection (FYI, all the stories in that collection are remarkable). War Stories has neither subtle nor heavy speculative fiction element. It is one of her subtle stories (see also Light which won The Commonwealth Short Story Prize (African Region) in 2015).
War Stories has a special place in my heart because the protagonist’s father, just like my father, always filled her daughter’s ears with stories about “the war”. This is a breathlessly beautiful story. Watching Lesley Nneka Arimah read War Stories adds the much needed flare to it. She guides the audience through the refreshing humor that garnishes this piece until the story begins to unearth the memories and the questions that for so long have fallen into “the cracks”.
Aside: I love watching writers read. That way, I replay their voice in my head while reading their work.
The video is on The Loft Literary Center’s YouTube channel and you can stream it here.
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Innocent Chizaram Ilo 