Welcome to Ikenna Ugwu's Blog

I read with astonishment Chimamanda Adiche’s opinion on the anti-gay law from a post a friend shared on my facebook wall. “Chimamanda, chekwa ezigbo echiche,” he simply commented atop the story. I think it was a sensible reaction to the now controversial and yet shocking disposition of the literary ace on the anti-gay law that recently got a presidential sanction. Chimamanda titled her story “why can’t he just be like everyone else?” And in answering the question she named the character in her perfectly crafted short intro fiction to her controversial opinion “Sochukwuma,” only God knows! “We don’t know”. The long and short of Adiche’s view on criminalising homosexuality was carefully and technically subsumed in the short anecdotal fiction in her story. Her submission was explicit and unequivocal: “Sochukwuma” was not and could not be responsible for his sexual disorientation; he could not have chosen a lifestyle as such; it was congenital. She called it ‘benign difference.’ Cl

Ever been on a date before? Yea! Many, many times I hear you guys say. Did it all work? Many went sour, I know.   But did you give up? No, you don’t give up. You keep on. You try again and again, till you win. Here, I want to propose a date to you. It’s not like the ones you’ve had before; not the romantic engagement with some licentious, promiscuous, cheap ladies; it is a valuable, purposeful and far enriching romance with a ‘special’ fruit. But you need to keep up with this date. You need to be faithful…and then you will definitely gain. It is the Date palm fruit! How much do you know about this elegantly charming fruit? I’ll tell you more. Come… Dates are fruits of the date palm, a tree mainly grown in the dry arid regions. It is native to Africa (mainly North Africa) and western Asia. Here, it is most popular and common in the northern part of the country. We call it Debino. Remember? Dates can be eaten fresh or dried. Though used as ingredient in sweets, cakes and ot

 A writer’s Pain and gain.   (For Jude Dibia and Chika Unigwe...and all who love beautiful stories) Although I came across the information about The Bold and Beautiful Youth Literary Forum by what seemed like a stroke of chance, yet I do not think that my eventual participation was an accident. April 2011. The event has come and gone and everyone spoke well of it. We searched for words to express how we felt. It was a spectacular experience. We have our reasons to believe this, for it was a matter of impact and everyone felt it. It was indeed bold and beautiful.   This story is not particularly about The Bold And Beautiful Foundation, my co-participants at the forum or the liberal facilitators. It is about me. But because the event was not and could not have been without them, they are unavoidably part of my story. I can say they make my story.     I thank The Bold and Beautiful Foundation for giving me a fabulous experience. I wish to say that her steps were not just bold

YES, ALL MEN WILL DIE (In memory of my late ‘sweet’ mum) When my mother died, people said, ‘…your mother has gone to fight for you…’ I heard much of this amid tears. Today, I still hear the voices reverberating. I believe! While the remains of my mother was being lowered into the grave and everybody (family members) had moved closer to the tomb,   I remained on my seat right at the front where they made for the family members. I was not still shouting down heaven and asking God “why?” I was just there, like a doll placed on that plastic chair. I did not move or speak, until two people held my hands and said something almost in a whisper, “bia ka iwunyere mama aja.” Reality had dawned. Mama was already in the grave. It was time to pay my last respect. It is traditional. A man scooped deep-brown sand with the shovel and handed to me. “Ngwa…,” he said. With my hands shaky, I let the sand drop on mama’s coffin three times before tears clouded my face, and again those two hand