About MKB

Mildred Kiconco Barya is a North Carolina-based writer, educator, and poet of East African descent. She teaches and lectures globally, and is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently "The Animals of My Earth School" released by Terrapin Books, 2023. Her prose, hybrids, and poems have appeared in Shenandoah, Joyland, The Cincinnati Review, Tin House, New England Review, and elsewhere. She’s now working on a collection of creative nonfiction, and her essay, “Being Here in This Body”, won the 2020 Linda Flowers Literary Award and was published in the North Carolina Literary Review. She serves on the boards of African Writers Trust, Story Parlor, and coordinates the Poetrio Reading events at Malaprop’s Independent Bookstore/Café. She blogs here: www.mildredbarya.com
Author Archive | MKB

What shall we do now that our dear Caster Semenya is confirmed male and female?

The case of Caster Semenya has reached epic proportions. It’s been evolving and much as we’ve been coming to conclusions before the comprehensive sex tests have been released, there is a new twist that only Semenya, her parents, and the South African government can answer.

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She who can, is, and always will…

Fall is here and it makes me excited because I am watching the seasons like my stories depend on them. In a big way they actually do. Apart from the relocation, Dakar to Syracuse, I must say the best news item of the just ended month that tickled me most is about Caster Semenya. Some […]

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My days in the night

I am making two weeks in Syracuse, and save the first two days, I haven’t slept since. Not joking. I get to sleep and my mind, which a friend of mine says is in overdrive, keeps working nighttime, throughout the day, nighttime, until it is morning of the next day and time to get out […]

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Leaving, living, and loving.

It’s always a shame to catch myself in a state of procrastination, where a million blog ideas are coming to me and I figure I have no time to sieve through and focus on one, just one piece of item for a story. I admit sometimes I am the queen of excuses. Implementation—oh, that word […]

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Rain in Dakar and the Pride of Barbados

It rained today. It also rained the previous night. I grew to love the equator zone where it rains and shines any moment any day. Here in Dakar rain is a mighty blessing, especially, if it arrives in the month of June. I got very excited when I looked into the sky today and realized […]

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Launch info

Mildred Barya will be reading poems from the groundbreaking collection, Give Me Room to Move My Feet, on Friday 26 June 2009, from 18.00 pm at Kadjinol Station, rue Albert Sarraut Angle Salva, near the Galerie Nationale, in front of Canal Horizons. For bookings and additional information, please contact publish@amalion.sn or Kadjinol info line: 76 […]

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Give Me Room to Move My Feet

The book is out, wrapped in purple like a royal newborn. As stubborn as they come, attempting to stand. The launch in Dakar will take place on 26th June 09. Then the newborn will be released to walk, run, dance, swing and cuddle too with whoever is on the sofa.

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Lay down softly in our memory, Tajudeen.

We all have our appointed time with death. We realize early in life what fragile mortals we are. Yet, that has not robbed death of its sting, its intensity to shock us, to cripple us and even send us into denial because of its bluntness and greed. When I was told early this morning that […]

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Return

Words have returned. The right tense is the past, words returned. It has been a while since they came back, sailing, arrived on a boat but I’ve taken my time to put them on their feet. This is a big achievement for me.  My nature is carpe diem-seize the day. I’d like to change a […]

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Blog Crunch

It isn’t only the economic crunch. I’ve been less productive concerning my blog, yet so lost in activity, the kind of activity that doesn’t produce much. When I try to update my blog, I turn on my computer and end up only changing the screen background. I can spend three straight hours admiring screen savers, […]

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