FORTUNATE TRAVELLER

Welcome to the travel theatre/ where transition is key. — Dami Ajayi, 'On Airports I'
Non-fiction

A Summer Vacation in America by Fela Ajakaiye

I: Lagos to America For this summer, my family opted to observe our annual vacation in the United States of America, having ignored that country for almost four years. My dad said now was just the best time to catch up with extended family and friends after COVID-19. So, on 27th July 2023, we made our way to the international wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja. The check-in process…

Continue reading
Poetry

songs of the garden city by Nket Godwin

Looking Back(for Oyorokoto)  I turn to search your footsteps from acres of solitude away,to listen to the song of your tide singing home the fishers.but you are gone from me, the way ocean of becoming,its tributaries always beckoning flotsam of dreams,constantly wash young pebbles off your brine shore. I, whom survival weaned from your breast, am underfed.I sleep and wake in Obio-Akpor, in Ikwerre, still starved of language in my State,the…

Continue reading
Photography

São Tomé & Principe Eco-Paradise: Exploring the Unseen by Kofi Dotse

On Sunday, November 20th 2022, as I sat by the window seat of our car en route to São Tomé, I whispered to myself, ‘Finally, I’m going on an adventure I’m stoked for.’ São Tomé has always remained a wonder to me, especially because, as I like to believe, people hardly go there, and this was my chance to unravel the mystery myself. A significant factor in choosing São Tomé…

Continue reading
Poetry

The Fishwife and Other Poems by Tade Ipadeola

The Fishwife The fishwife in her wooden market stallTucks in a franc into her black brassiere,Smiles as she hands over the fish. She is tallHer teeth glisten whiter than the sassier Neighbour’s, whiter than any woman’s, so whiteI wondered if God knew she’d make itInto a magnet for custom and light.I did not ask her name, I wouldn’t pit My halting French against her effortless riverOf Bambara and market French….

Continue reading
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio
Photography

Beyond Colour: The Silent Language of a City by Efe Edosio

Where words have failed me, photography has given broad expression, giving form to theimages I see in my head, making the intangible real that I may share with the world. By invitingviewers to see the world through my eyes, I aim to foster a deeper connection between theobserver and the subjects that inhabit my frames, calling them to see the stories I capture andencouraging them to discover new ones. By…

Continue reading
Essay & Review

World at their Wheels: Two Nigerian Travelogues Fifty Years Apart by Janet Remmington

AN AFRICAN ABROAD by Ọlábísí Àjàlá (Author), Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún (Preface), Tom Mboya (Introduction), Joane Ajala (Foreword), Masobe Books and Olongo Africa, 2022 [Originally published by Jarrolds:1963] LONDON TO LAGOS: THE JOURNEY OF A LION HEART by David Kunle Adeyanju (Kindle Edition), 2022 Nigerian travellers have long been going places and crafting their travel stories, with no signs of slowing down.  Recently relaunched is Moshood Ọlábísí Àjàlá’s travel memoir classic An…

Continue reading
Non-fiction

Remembering My NYSC Experience by Adeoye Deborah Adenike

There are two categories of frustrating people: the disobedient ones who will hear but will never take heed, and the ones who do not understand. For the hundredth time, my mother shouted from the kitchen, asking if I had packed everything I would need, and I replied in the affirmative. I remember her saying that it would be better to put my stationery in my handbag, as I would need…

Continue reading
Non-fiction

The Nakedness of Experience by Joseph Omoh Ndukwu

I: Morning The world here is open spaces and quiet afternoons. But it is also slow misty mornings. I sit one Sunday charging my phone and waiting for a taxi going to Saki, the first stop on a journey to Ibadan, and I take to look at this place. It is early morning. There are noisy weaver birds in a mango tree just to my right. The ground that falls…

Continue reading
News & Announcement

Call for Submissions – Becoming Otondo: An Anthology of NYSC Travels Vol II

Fortunate Traveller is pleased to call for submissions of creative non-fiction, poetry and photography for the second volume of our National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) themed anthology, Becoming Otondo: An Anthology of NYSC Travels Vol II.  Like our first volume, Government Pikin: An Anthology of NYSC Travels Vol I, guest edited by Sami Tunji and SA Sanusi, Becoming Otondo will tell the stories of Nigerians observing, or that have observed,…

Continue reading
News & Announcement

The E-Visa Alternative

Applying for a visa can be a chore with too much paperwork, especially if you are a Nigerian passport holder which is ranked 91st in the passport index. That is, there are not many countries or places you can visit without going through the cumbersome process of applying for a visa apart from the West African countries because of the ECOWAS free movement pact. And applying for one with this…

Continue reading