Vitabu Books

Lango Deen's Easter story, The Jacaranda Tree, was first published on Facebook in 2010.  Easter flowers are blooming bright, Easter skies pour radiant light, Christ our Lord is risen in might, Glory in the highest! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ our Lord is risen in might, Alleluia! Alleluia! He woke up early. Lay on his back for a while, and then fumbled for his wireless. He kept the volume down while SLBS made its static early morning call signs. Then there was a creak from the next room. His wife was stirring. As it went quiet again, the muezzin’s salat cut through the darkness. He sat up, moved to the edge of the mattress, and let his feet dangle over the tall brass bed high up from the linoleum floor. He reached for the wireless but he didn’t want to wake his wife so he turned off the knob. The muezzin’s call to prayer grew fainter, as the burly, retired Public Works employee walked out of his bedroom. Through the small parlor to the back, h

When Ahmed Koroma visited Vitabu’s virtual room in October 2012, he had just published a collection of poems.  “Words matter,” the Freetown-born analytical chemist told us that fall. This spring, he revisits Vitabu with a new poetry book.    Vitabu : How would you describe this collection of poems? Ahmed Koroma : This second collection of poems transitions us to a safer place, so to speak, far from the darkness that is captured in the previous anthology. Of Flour And Tears was a post war project, poetry of inferno, mayhem, destruction and lost hope. However, Along The Odokoko River returns us to a pre-war Freetown to search for that peaceful abode that was once an imperfect yet stable home. Along The Odokoko River is a nostalgic journey through multiple spaces, imaginary and real -- mostly along a waterway that traverses the central area of our hometown, Freetown.  Vitabu : What inspired this collection? AK : Nostalgia. A yearning for those halcyon days