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A review by rachelemm
Best of Isele Anthology by Ukamaka Olisakwe
4.0
I'd never heard of Isele magazine before coming across this anthology on NetGalley but will absolutely be following what they do now I've had a flavour of the work they promote.
The Best of Isele Anthology is a celebration of the publication, which publishes work primarily from writers on the African continent but also from around the world. The collection showcases the longlisted authors for the Isele prize and is split into Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry with the winning story from each of these categories opening each section. There is also a category at the end for short stories that were chosen as notable mentions.
This is the kind of anthology you can read cover to cover in a couple of sittings, so well do the pieces flow into one another, each long enough to be satisfactory in their own right but short enough to leave you wanting more. Equally, you could savour the book over a couple of weeks letting each story, poem or essay marinate before moving on to the next. Either way, you're likely to discover something to make you think, gasp or simply revel in enjoyment.
What I liked most about this anthology was that it did not solely focus on tales of black trauma, there were stories that had elements of the supernatural, romance, queer stories, essays about the black experience in academia and poems about just existing in the world in a black body. As much as it is important to tell stories of black pain, it is equally important to highlight black joy, love, ingenuity and creativity and Isele does this to great effect. Some of my favourite pieces were The Year of the Sun, Witch Hazel and The Children of No. 39 Faulks Street.
As with any anthology, there were pieces I liked more than others, I also think the notable mentions should have been dispersed throughout the book. By putting the notable mentions together at the end, the collection seemed to fizzle out after I had already read the, generally stronger, longlisted pieces. There was no one piece that I didn't gain something from, however, and I am grateful to NetGalley and Iskanshi Press for the opportunity to be an early reader of this thoroughly enjoyable work.
The Best of Isele Anthology is a celebration of the publication, which publishes work primarily from writers on the African continent but also from around the world. The collection showcases the longlisted authors for the Isele prize and is split into Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry with the winning story from each of these categories opening each section. There is also a category at the end for short stories that were chosen as notable mentions.
This is the kind of anthology you can read cover to cover in a couple of sittings, so well do the pieces flow into one another, each long enough to be satisfactory in their own right but short enough to leave you wanting more. Equally, you could savour the book over a couple of weeks letting each story, poem or essay marinate before moving on to the next. Either way, you're likely to discover something to make you think, gasp or simply revel in enjoyment.
What I liked most about this anthology was that it did not solely focus on tales of black trauma, there were stories that had elements of the supernatural, romance, queer stories, essays about the black experience in academia and poems about just existing in the world in a black body. As much as it is important to tell stories of black pain, it is equally important to highlight black joy, love, ingenuity and creativity and Isele does this to great effect. Some of my favourite pieces were The Year of the Sun, Witch Hazel and The Children of No. 39 Faulks Street.
As with any anthology, there were pieces I liked more than others, I also think the notable mentions should have been dispersed throughout the book. By putting the notable mentions together at the end, the collection seemed to fizzle out after I had already read the, generally stronger, longlisted pieces. There was no one piece that I didn't gain something from, however, and I am grateful to NetGalley and Iskanshi Press for the opportunity to be an early reader of this thoroughly enjoyable work.