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 […]
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.comBlog 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, […]

Decimals and Fractions
Today I was reading about decimals and fractions during my commercial break and realized how ‘stale’ I had become mathematically. I’ve never been one gifted at numerals but I know how to count my money. I am actually so bad at numbers I can only count beyond 100 in my father tongue. Knowing my limitations, […]
My home sky ever so close.
I used to wonder why the sky appeared close when I was growing up. So close often I stretched my hand to touch it. Sometimes the swirl of white clouds in the blue sky looked like rolled up mats rested against the hills. I climbed one hill after another to go lie in those white […]
Something fresh
There is a writing revolution witnessed in new works making up African Literature today. The African Writing online magazine is a breeze of fresh air worth to inhale. It is doing an important task of gathering and saluting new writers on the scene, while continuing to gift the world from past reservoirs.
October Dawn.
In the Gregorian calendar, October is usually a dead month. Seasons come to an end. Even love affairs seem to end with the October heat, October cold. A lot of inactivity sets in. Before long October is hushed and swept under the carpet like it never happened. November is welcomed as it ushers in change, […]
Portugal
Words grow cold Time sits in the mirror And when you look Years stare What happened, you ask? When did I leave the race? A tear, a shiver, All from the cracking place.

One writer’s postcard (the Pan African Literary Forum in Ghana)
I’ve been wanting to write this for a very long time—a new post for my blog. Every time I’ve sat before my computer I’ve been overwhelmed by how much I have to sieve through. I am thinking I’ve been under a writer’s block of a different kind—finding myself with too much information and therefore not […]
Africa in the here and now: the fate of MDG’s & undemocratic states.
When I was young and impressionable I had this grand vision of saving the world. It was so easy to dream up a free and fair world where sanity, justice and good health prevailed. It was even easier to engage in activities that could quicken the coming into being of those dreams. Now that I […]

Memory Chirere’s cogent review of “Dreams, Miracles and Jazz”
A review has come out on the recently published short story anthology of new African writing: “Dreams, Miracles and Jazz“, in which my story, Land of my bones, is published.
-
MKB: Thank you so much! I would love to read yours too ...
-
Brenda C Wilson: Congratulations! I hope to get a chance to read yo...
-
Kwasi opoku: Why did Nana usually say that Adjoa did not know t...
-
MKB: Dear Nyakisa, Good news! "The Animals of My Earth...
-
MKB: Eventually. I'm working on getting copies there. ...
-
Just a tiny, weeny bit about my father June 7, 2016
-
Amiri Baraka at 75 still hitting the gong strong October 18, 2009
-
Why Don’t You Carve Other Animals: Yvonne Vera July 27, 2012
-
The case of the missing mailbox et cetera. September 5, 2012
-
Kony 2012 is just what we needed to spin us into action March 10, 2012
-
Day by Day the Path Clears March 13, 2025
-
One Celebration at a Time February 11, 2025
-
2024 Jacobs/Jones Runner-up February 19, 2024
-
Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2023! December 13, 2023
-
Review by Heather Swan: The Animals of My Earth School November 9, 2023
Follow @midibarya on Twitter
Blogroll
- African Writers Trust
- African writing online
- AfricanWriter
- Amalion Publishing
- Arthur Flowers rootsblog
- Babishai Niwe Poetry
- brainpickings
- Brittle Paper
- Centre for Transcultural Writing & Research
- Chimurenga
- Emigane
- Exiled Writers Ink
- FEMRITE
- Maisha Film Lab
- MB @ Wikipedia
- NorthEast Review
- One friend’s pics
- Pambazuka News
- PEN International
- Per Ankh Books
- SABLE Lit Mag
- Shenandoah
- Sub-Saharan Publishers
- The Woyingi Blog
- Transition Magazine
- TRUSTAFRICA
- Wasafiri
- Words without Borders
- Zócalo Poets