Where did reading take you this year? is how goodreads posed my 2015 in books. So I’m going to share my reading list which is likely to extend into 2016, and ask you dear reader to share yours too. Making and exchanging reading lists is one of the ways to stay engaged with others in […]
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
On Milan Kundera–Ignorance, The Odyssey, and Teju Cole
I did not read The Unbearable Lightness of Being but watched the movie instead. As all movies adapted from great books, I was left wondering what I had missed. Later, when I had a chance to read The Curtain, I underlined almost every sentence. I loved the plot summaries of all the books that Kundera […]
Creativity, Exile and Extraterritoriality
As part of my ongoing research, I’m fascinated by how much of old and new literature is made by writers living in exile and/or the Diaspora. Not all exile is motivated by political circumstances but involuntary departure from one’s native land and eventual settlement in a new country characterizes many exilic experiences. To talk about […]
This year so far: Caves, Caverns & Garden of the Gods
My year always begins and ends in August. Overall, this has been an exceptionally abundant year. I’ve felt productive in my personal and professional life, and the challenges I’ve encountered have demonstrated that problems and solutions are different sides of the same coin. Ease into one, flip it over, and you’ll see the other. Both […]
The Liminal in Ali Smith continued
David Whyte in his book, Crossing the Unknown Sea, suggests that, “at the threshold of loss, we look back to gain a glimpse of the nature of anything we have ever held in our hands.” After reading several works of Ali Smith: Hotel World, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The First Person and Other […]
Go to the Limits of Your Longing, Rilke
Since 2013, no other poet has spoken to me and demanded a life lived fiercely with quiet intensity like Rainer Maria Rilke. I love his animals, his mysticism, his symbols, and his profound intuitive perception. I especially marvel every time I read the Archaic Torso of Apollo and walk away with a new meaning. Radical […]
2015 Sylt Foundation African Writer’s Residency Award–Good News
So delighted to know that this time next year I’ll take up residence in Sylt, the beautiful island in Northern Germany. So honored to be chosen. The Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award (AWRA) provides a two months stay in a subsidized apartment on the German island of Sylt to writers of contemporary African literature, […]
There But For The, Ali Smith
Suppose a stranger comes to your home for dinner, comes with an acquaintance that you’ve invited alongside other few guests, and they sit at your dinner table, drink wine, eat, engage in big and small talk, and at some point this stranger responds to a bathroom call, and after something like 30 minutes, the friend […]
Ali Smith: “How to be both” and “Girl Meets Boy.”
I’ve decided to add a new category to my blog called “Reading Lists” that will be dedicated to all the books I’ll read in preparation for the PhD comprehensive exams. I’ve thought it a great idea to have a blog page as a way of keeping track and checking in on myself via public posts. […]
Experiments in Reading: the thief in Teju Cole and Amos Tutuola’s books
I’m inclined to experiments in reading. I will sometimes read five books concurrently, and to avoid mixing the stories, I will select two books in poetry, two in fiction, and one nonfiction. The mind can handle an evolutionary biology text alongside Ezra Pound, Teju Cole, Charles Simic and Ali Smith. Surprisingly–and this is partly why […]
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MKB: Dear Nyakisa, Good news! "The Animals of My Earth...
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Nyakisa Beth: Will it be available in Uganda?...
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Wm Epes: Dr. Barya: Hope you are well. Enj...
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