March 2012
10 posts
'NDAMBI'
Photo © Isabel Snyder (Originally published in ‘Bedford Square 5’ Anthology).
NDAMBI
BY DIRIYE OSMAN
Haram
My sister tells me I’m living in sin. ‘Tis true. But she doesn’t conk that this is my sin. She tells me it is haram for a woman to love another woman. ‘Tis also true. But I don’t need to hear it from her.
She calls me on a regular to scope the situation, to sniff traces of melancholy and...
'EARTHLING'
This story was originally published in Kwani? Magazine. Photo copyright © Sally Mann.
EARTHLING
BY DIRIYE OSMAN
After being discharged from the Maudsley Mental Hospital, Zeytun went to her local internet café to spy on her sister Hamdi’s Facebook profile. The café was located at the bottom of Peckham Rye. A bad paint job meant that the walls looked like they had been plastered with puke. The...
5 tags
'SHOGA'
Photo © François Rousseau (Originally published in ‘Attitude’ Magazine, November 2011).
SHOGA
BY DIRIYE OSMAN
My grandmother worked my roots with the vigour of a woman who meant business. She dug her fingernails into my ‘fro and when she discovered dandruff she pulled out her clippers and said, ‘Waryaa, fix up! Hadiikale, I shall shave you cleaner than a baby’s ass.’
‘Ayeeyo, I want...
7 tags
'THE ART OF LAURYN HILL'
BY DIRIYE OSMAN
In the summer of 1998, I was a gawky, 14-year-old with oversized ambitions and a lackadaisical approach to study. Instead of preparing for exams, I would spend hours with my bootleg stereo and cassettes nearby, ready to record my favourite songs on the radio. My favourite station was Capital FM because they broadcast an American R&B show called ‘The Countdown with Walt Baby...
