In this fascinating African anthology about the human condition and human experiences, readers explore several short stories by different authors about women and their voices in the African diaspora. Selecting different moments as lived by different characters, this anthology incorporates local dialects and various African languages into the narratives as necessary. Not connected and nonlinear, this text might be a bit complex for those unfamiliar with short story anthologies, but the depth of detail and the vibrant mental images in this book are really powerful and well-developed. The premise of this anthology is absolutely fascinating, and the characters are complex, unique, and emotional, all of which makes the stories more immersive and engaging for the reader. By spotlighting new authors, unique characters, and distinct narratives, this book provides a fascinating insight into African literature and acts as a great starting point for readers interested in reading more about the African diaspora and African literature and authors in general. With this backdrop, readers will gain some insights into the diaspora as experienced by women, highlighting marginalized voices in a fascinating anthology. All of the stories, though separate, have these underlying threads in common and enhance critical narrative elements present in the other stories in this fascinating anthology.

beautiful prose, loved the topics handled, however took me some time to get through as it was a bit slow at times

This was such an interesting anthology! There were so many narrative voices covering such a breadth of community experiences that it was a pleasure to read. I have recently been delving into the African diaspora and, more specifically, women's voices, so this was a wonderful introduction to many new authors. I look forward to seeing what else they publish and I will keep this publisher on my radar. I will definitely recommend it to some of my treasured library patrons! 4 stars!

It was a bit confusing for me in some of the stories. A lot of had different languages and native slang from different African countries that was hard to decipher. Maybe if I had the background, I would’ve enjoyed it more but it was complex to me.

This novella and compilation of short stories was a quite interesting and funny read. I would rate it a 7/10. I liked a lot of the stories and they were quite relatable too. I also like the fact that the authors stuck with the women theme and had the story around it. What I didn't like was the fact that some stories ended without closure for me. I was in sort of some limbo.

But in all, the book is a good one and I will be recommending it in the near future.

A great poignant collection of short stories, chronicling different voices across the continent. I quite enjoyed the breadth in this collection. There were light and easy to read stories. There were also really heavy stories. It was well edited and there's a healthy range of voices included.

"My dear, she hung up the phone before I could ask her what happiness had to do with the marriage." (loc. 87, "Our Daughter, Who Art in America")

A mother struggles against the reality of a lonely life with her daughters both gone. A girl learns that she is more like her mother than she thinks. A child is unprepared for her brother to grow up without her, and for her friendship with the family maid to come to a forced end. A swimmer witnesses a horror from the underworld of South Africa. A college student learns that your own perceived identity does not always match the identity perceived by those around you.

"Our Daughter, Who Art in America" takes its title from the first of the ten stories in this collection. I am only rarely a short-story reader (I read very quickly and find it frustrating for stories to end just as I feel that I am getting into them!), but I couldn't resist picking up this collection of diverse voices from parts of the continent and beyond (as far as I can tell, from the author bios: Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, the US). Per the editors' note at the beginning, the stories are divided in two, with the lighter stories up front and the darker stories in the second half (to allow for a choose-your-own-adventure style of reading). I have to admit that I struggled to find the distinction; though the characters move through with determination, there is more rawness in these stories than there is joy.

As is inevitably the case with collections, some of these stories resonated with me more than others; I particularly enjoyed "Body Parts," in which the narrator stumbles across an organ-harvesting ring (is it odd to say that I enjoyed that story? It startled me, and of course it was well written) and the understated social dynamics of "The Ripening," in which a girl sees her household fall into upheaval and her brother and the maid, previously her allies, become strangers to her. It's nice to see a mix of settings and contexts, and especially to see some stories from writers I might not have found otherwise. (And for the stories lower on my list: well, that's the good thing about short stories going by so quickly!)

I'm very curious about the selection process for the stories in this book; as other reviewers have noted, it's a pretty slim volume, and—while obviously no one writer is representative of a given country!—it surprised me a bit to see that three of the ten writers are from Kenya. (On the other hand, I guess it's safe to assume that the call for stories was loudest in countries where English is more prominent? So perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised not to see any stories from, e.g., parts of Africa where French/Arabic/etc. are more common.) I hope Mukana Press carries on with this sort of anthology, but I'd also love to see some pieces from farther-flung locales next time.

Thanks to the authors and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I've come to enjoy reading compilations of stories like this one. Though some stories leave me longing for more, I think they are likely the best ones.

Based on the foreword, I was expecting part 2 to be a lot heavier than part 1, but I found that both parts shared stories that made me smile and stories that broke my heart.

However, in my opinion, the success of a book relies heavily on how it makes me feel. And this compilation of short stories made me feel deep joy, sadness and pain about a culture with which I have no experience. I don't see how it could be more successful than that.

I've been spoiled with good short stories so this was aggressively mid. Dont take it the wrong way, it was an okay read. I just wanted a lot more from our African writers. I just won't remember any of these 2 weeks from now.

However, the title story earned its crowning moment. It was really good and a great opener, sadly nothing else compared.

A collection of ten stories by African authors, about storytelling and the human condition. These stories are vibrant and many-faced, dealing with emotions, grief, family and expectations. I especially enjoyed all the unfamiliar-to-me foods. The characters feel alive, and there is some beautiful writing inside this anthology.

Several stories are about strict traditions and expectations for women to be baby-makers, which was really difficult to read at times.

That being said, my main problem was that I don't think the foreword accurately represents this anthology at all. According to the foreword, the seven stories in the first part are meant to be "easy to read", "escapism" and make you "laugh and smile". I would say maybe two of the stories made me smile. The others were well-written, but often bittersweet or outright sad. One of them had a homeless person being cut into pieces for organs, which definitely didn't make me laugh. Maybe we have a different sense of humor.

On the other hand, the mention of war and atrocities in the foreword made me expect the topic of war in the second part, but instead the three stories there are about grief, biracial identity and abortion - serious and important topics, but more "mundane" than I would have expected.

So, in short, the stories themselves are wonderful, but I do think the foreword gives you some wrong expectations.

Thank you to Mukana Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

This anthology of nine stories about African women is written by different authors (seven women, and two men). The authors are from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and there are two African American writers. All but one of the stories focus on women as mothers, daughters, sisters, business women and students. Almost all detail loss of family and of friends, infertility, isolation, and being gay. But many also show strength in surviving difficult circumstances.

Most of the stories are well-written and engaging, some witty and others haunting. One seems out of place – the story is bland, and its theme, about an Israeli couple coming to help bring clean water to a community, does not fit with the others. Also, the editors do a disservice to the reader in their introduction: They divide the works into two parts, the first supposedly “easy” reads that will make the reader “laugh and smile,” the second dealing with more difficult material. However, four of the first section are quite distressing, featuring depression, the burning of a gay woman, and a young woman literally turning her back on a mother desperate for her help. Finally, in my Kindle version, the last story in the collection ended abruptly, with a paragraph from an earlier story appearing. It wasn’t clear if it replaced the final story’s end, or was just a copy-editing mistake. Hopefully, the published version corrected this.

This is a collection worth reading, for its insight and description of both strong and troubled African women, and the situations they face and the choices they make, which often are limited by gender, class, and patriarchal societies. Their voices and their resolutions are sometimes inspiring, and always instructive.

These short stories were great for exploring a variety of different perspectives of African writers. I particularly enjoyed "Her Name Shall Be Peace" by Alex Nderitu and Tsoro" by Munashe Kaseke.
I appreciate how the were split into two categories: the lighter, funny stories and the heavier ones.
Overall a great way to discover some new authors and I would be interested to read more from this publisher in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ARC.

This collection of short stories centers mostly women in the African continent, and the authors do a beautiful job of showcasing the complex relationships these women have with their families and communities. Although the endings of many of the stories is not happy, they were all worthwhile and realistic to the plot. Overall, I enjoyed the range of writing styles.

I particularly enjoyed Little Woman by Favor Ahuchaogo, a story about a short woman fighting for her and her daughter's rights after her husband dies, and She Lingers by Okoronkwo Chisom, which tackled the pressure of bearing a male child, grief, and sexuality.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I enjoyed the book overall and thought that the variety of voices showcased is valuable and important. However, the stories were quite uneven and some may have benefitted from further editing. The last paragraph of the final story appeared to be a repeat of the last paragraph of an earlier story.

This was a heartfelt, intensely colourful and provocative anthology from various underrepresented storytellers across Africa. I found it interesting to be immersed in the vibrant markets of Lagos, to the world's largest alkaline lake in Kenya. Stories vary from upbeat aspects of female empowerment, underestimated intelligence, and warm family ties. I felt myself smile through cosy family squabbles and idle environmental noise. I appreciated the inclusion of African slang for me to look up, rather than have everything be filtered and diluted. The stories also bring light to darker themes of loss, cultural discrimination and human rights. I felt the impact and the deliberate discomfort to educate my worldview.

This is a great collection of African voices to enrich your reading if you haven't dabbled outside your cultural comfort zone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mukana Press for this advanced digital readers copy.

In this collection, the short stories are divided into two parts: the first is lighthearted and colorful, while the second delves into some of the harsher realities of life. In Chioma Iwunze Ibiam’s title story, Lolo Ezigbo haggles over market prices while sharing tales of her daughter’s adventures in America (“My dear, she hung up the phone before I could ask her what happiness had to do with marriage”). Favour Ahuchaogo’s “Little Woman” highlights the strength and perseverance of a short-statured woman and her daughter in a male-dominated culture after her husband dies.

Other stories include Gloria Mwaniga Odary’s “The Ripening,” which explores a young woman’s maturation through her youngest daughter’s eyes, and Christine Coates’ “Body Parts,” a dark tale of unhoused people being kidnapped for organ harvesting. In Munashe Kaseke’s “Tsoro,” a highly qualified Zimbabwean woman lands a job in an American company only to be labeled the “diversity hire.” Okoronkwo Chisom’s “She Lingers” deals with a family coping with the public murder of the oldest daughter, while Dennis Mugaa’s “Half Portraits Underwater” follows Olioma’s search for a fitting memorial for her twin sister on the one-year anniversary of her death. Milred Barya’s “The Way We Bend” tells the story of a Black American woman who travels to Africa for school, only to find she’s not “Black enough” for Africa just as she’s not “white enough” for America.

The 10 stories in this anthology offer readers a glimpse into cultures that are often underrepresented in modern literature. Each author has a unique style, and each story contains elements that will stick with readers. It’s a captivating anthology that mixes fun and heart-wrenching stories of the African experience.

A charming little collection of short stories from the African continent, without any running themes. Some are happy, some are sad, some are funny. I'm especially fond of a story about a girl buying a dress for her valedictorian speech in Lagos, and a Zimbabwean business woman working in the US.
Unfortunately I don't have that much to say, as there was no guiding theme to be built on.

Great short stories from different writers describing characters from all walks of life. They beautifully describe the lives of women in just a few pages which shows the talent of the writers. Liked the first one 'Our Daughter, Who Art in America' and 'She Lingers' the best.

Sometimes I had trouble figuring out out what characters were saying when they were speaking in their native language without having a translation on the page. But I guess it wasn't important for the reader to understand if there is no translation.

If you want to discover new authors, this collection is a good place to start.

One note regarding the epub file: there were no chapters provided, so there is no way for the reader to jump to the next story. I think it would be nice to add those for a better reader experience.

Also I would have liked to know which author wrote which story. In the back all the authors are listed in alphabetical order without mentioning which story they wrote. This makes it harder to find out which author a user might like to follow to read more of their work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mukana Press for allowing me to read this digital ARC

This is an enjoyable collection of short stories from African and American writers, covering the plight and condition of young women in various African voices. Each story is unique, some are more compelling than others. A couple don't feel complete, and leave you wanting more to the story. The stories cover such subjects as grief, misogyny, women's rights, violence against transgender women, colorism, losing a loved one, being the only person of color in a work environment, and making tough choices.
I was impressed with all of the various writing styles. I would give the majority of the stories 4 stars. There are only a couple that I would give 3 Stars, as they felt incomplete.
Overall a great series of short stories that invoke various emotions and are poignant.

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After a debut being a success, mukana press has compiled another collection for us which consists of 10 stories from African authors. As per the introduction they received 564 submissions from 23 countries and I find it odd that this collection compiles only 10 stories but what stories. Definitely worth your time and effort if you want something that teaches you about life of black authors.

So the collection have 7 stories in part 1 and 3 in part 2. In publisher's words <I> We ultimately divided the anthology into two. Part one has easy
to read stories with vibrant characters that will make you laugh and Smile, and part two has stories that will ground you into some of
the atrocities our world faces. </I>

I myself did not find the part 2 stories very dark as such, maybe because I have read too much dark stuff also I did not find stories in part 1 to be easy apart from maybe first story where the humour is blanketed in sarcasm and pain.

I will give a short summary without any spoilers to help you pick this book up.



<B>Part 1
Our Daughter, Who Art in America -Chioma Iwunze Ibiam</b>
A mom goes to buy some grocery and ends up discussing her current affairs with an old friend. It's funny in a dark way but left me feeling happy even when a part of me was sad for the mom.
<I> And as if this Analysis wasn’t enough, she reeled out some statistical reports my menopausal brain could neither fathom nor store.

Then I imagined a Nigerian policeman
answering an emergency call in his guttural voice, “You’re dying, and you can talk? Okay, send gas money so we can fuel our truck.” And then I laughed at Bon’s blind faith in the Nigerian police. I was dying, and yet there was some laughter left in my heart.</I>



<B>Little Woman - Favour Ahuchaogo</b>
A mom who's small and yet a fighter. I loved this story and loved how the mom and even dad are portrayed here. A part of me wished that I could be like the mom. Strong willed, and opinionated she is ready to fight for what's right and what's wrong.
<I> At her height, she endured the embarrassing feeling Of people literally looking down on her, and she probably swore to herself that she would not let anyone do it figuratively.</I>



<B>The Ripening - Gloria Mwaniga Odary</b>
<I> At dinner, the food tasted like cloth because Kagonya’s laughter stayed stuck in her throat.</I> The ripening is a coming of age story but I found it sad that in every world the rules for girls and boys are different.



<B>Body Parts - Christine Coates</b>
I thought this was quite a dark story. A daughter who's father is disappointed in her as she failed to achieve the dream he had for her and later is lost too this world and his expectations. <I> I told myself to keep brushing against death. It becomes a whisper, just a breath, and you can face
anything.</I>



<B>Tsoro - Munashe Kaseke</b>
Tsoro is a story of a woman's survival in a professional world dominated by men. What a woman has to do to make herself stand out is quite different from what is expected from men.
<I> They fold their personalities into themselves, avoiding my eyes, crocheting their fingers, and turning their bodies away from me. The young man is still facing me; I try to meet his eyes but realize he’s staring at my hips.</I>



<B>Market Craze - Delight Chinenye Ejiaka</B>
A crazy day at the market, my least favorite story from the collection but funny in a way that it made me mood light



<B>Her Name shall be peace - Alex Nderitu</b>
This was a heartwarming story. It tells us how would is still full of people who care and want to bring difference.




<B> Part 2
She Lingers- Okoronkwo Chisom</b>
<I> Ma felt pride and shame at the same time. Pride for knowing her husband didn’t build the marriage on the bedrock of child-bearing. Shame for her inability to bear a living child and quell
the mouths of men.</I> part of this story was sad for still seeing women just as a way to have kids. And then there's story of Addanne which is even sadder and mind numbing.

<B>Half Portraits Underwater - Dennis Mugaa</b>
Another story of loss and grief and hidden secrets that led to destruction.

<B>The Way We Bend - Milred Barya</b>
This was heartbreaking to read. A young African American trying to set her roots in her own country but she is struggling.

Overall I enjoyed reading it but it felt strangely odd that all Stories were centred around women. I really don't mind that but personally I feel it's okay to have all women centred stories if it says women fiction maybe. But lack of important male characters felt just odd and confusing. Apart from that these stories are definitely good .

Thank you mukana press and Netgalley for wonderful ARC in exchange of an honest review.