Northern Narratives Initiative Publications

This fierce, tender, and courageous debut chapbook excavates into the battles fought against addiction, silence, and the heavy architecture of grief. Rukayya Bashir Kofar-Bai transforms personal trauma into stunning poetry, examining how one finds strength, survival, and fierce resilience when the world demands you stay small. Through deeply honest language grounded in Hausa cultural cadences, the author navigates the terrain of memory, claiming her truth not to fix the wounds, but to name them, breathe through them, and make space for everything she once carried alone.

Explore a powerful collection of short fiction that unflinchingly tackles the challenges of growing up in Northern Nigeria, where the shadows of violent extremism, societal shame, and poverty loom large. From the harrowing story of Zaire, a kidnapping survivor struggling with self-harm and the crushing weight of family disgrace, to the charming tale of Abu, a young boy determined to seek education against all odds, Nana Jodi entwines the narratives of brokenness and astonishing resilience. This book demands attention, presenting raw, emotional depth that strikes a chord while seeking the light in even the darkest corners of the Northern sky.

Dive into a sweet and intimate collection of love stories that explore the tender juxtaposition between faith, tradition, and contemporary romance for young Muslim women in the North. Maymunatu Bukar extends an honest glimpse into Arewa relationships, navigating proposals based on respect for elders, the beauty found in modesty and destiny, and the painful space that opens in a modern marriage when communication breaks down. These tales are to a striking degree, revolutionary, showcasing the hopes, desires, and challenges of seeking and sustaining halal love in a world often focused on fleeting convenience, reminding us that even the simplest connections require soulful faith and patience.

This evocative memoir transforms the ordinary objects and rhythms of Northern Nigerian childhood into layered lessons on culture, resilience, and identity. Through lyrical essays focused on things like the patience required to cultivate the local muruci fruit, the steadfast support symbolized by a simple kitchen stool (kujera), and the communal joy of a feast (biki), Balpolam Idi crafts a generous interlacing of memory. It is a personal journey into heritage, showing how the dignity of Northern life, even amidst its challenges, teaches us the value of enduring processes and finding meaning in the steady, unobtrusive presence of community.

Mouth of Dusk is a deceptively simple yet emotionally potent collection that introduces a miracle: a way to speak after a long silence. Surayya Musa uses lines and familiar imagery to map the landscape of the real North, where historical peace has been replaced by the rhythm of gunfire, and where survivors endure like "Borno's stubborn weed." These poems move with unforced clarity between an intimate ache and a communal grief, documenting the scars of war, loss, and the lasting yearning for home, ultimately dishing a doorway back to belonging, even when the earth itself trembles and refuses to forgive.

Embark on an enchanting journey into Asitna, a mythical realm of magic and trees, in this speculative fiction chapbook that explores the link between identity, hidden power, and self-acceptance. When Arya, a young woman marked by a mysterious three-leaf birthmark, encounters a book with spider-silk pages, she is transported to Naforei, the kingdom of the Eternal Flame, where she witnesses the stories of her true lineage. Nafisa Isah fashions an imaginative narrative that challenges the treatment of outcasts and urges readers to uncover their own forgotten history, proving that the courage to embrace your unique power can change worlds.

The Diagram of Hope is a fiercely tender and urgent collection that delineates the difficult geometry of healing across three phases: global catastrophe, familial grief, and the painstaking work of becoming. Abdulmajid Haruna artfully melds narrative force with lyric intensity, tackling heavy subjects like anxiety, academic failure, and immense personal loss with brave honesty. These poems refuse to flatten the ache, instead teaching the reader that hope is a practical tool—a diagram drawn with broken instruments—that allows one to endure trauma, seek connection, and move toward repair without sacrificing the truth of the struggle.

CageWork is a daring collection of stories that confront the intimate confines and moral landscapes faced by Northern Nigerian women. Maymunah Kadiri fearlessly navigates themes often left unspoken, from a sister grappling with the mystery of madness following a seemingly perfect marriage, to a husband struggling with infertility, and a woman caught in the liberating, yet guilt-ridden, passion of an extramarital affair. These narratives explore the rebellion inherent in female desire and the difficult choices women make when seeking freedom, intimacy, and a voice beyond the cages of expectation and silence.

This collection of creative nonfiction takes the reader on a close-knit journey through the life of a young man navigating the realities of Northern Nigeria. Abdulrahman Dalatu Bukar offers harrowing glimpses into life in Maiduguri under military "checking" and recounts the immense familial grief of chronic illness and loss, detailing how friendship served as a vital lifeline. Juxtaposing these hardships are luminous fragments of memory: nostalgic, sun-drenched recollections of a village childhood, unconditional grandmotherly love, and the enduring beauty of the savannah wasteland. This is a moving tribute to heritage, resilience, and the fragments of joy that subsist even in the face of profound sorrow.

Fragile Light is a weighty honest and vulnerable chapbook that explores the tension between identity, faith, and the pressure of expectation. Hannatu Sunusi Yakubu assembles patient ghazals and clear free verse, chronicling the inner turmoil of pushing against the mold that others have drawn, and learning to carve one's own face. Moving through poems of familial history, quiet grief ("Dear Pain, My Oldest Lover"), and the determined struggle to belong to oneself, this collection is an embodiment of endurance. It is an urgent invitation to hold onto the light that is often fragile, reminding us that survival itself is a form of faith.