Download Something in the Water: New Short Fiction from Africa here for FREE.

Something in the Water edited by Anathi Jongilanga and Moso Sematlane is the second short story anthology in the Blood Beats Series, a project that is focused centering queer African worlds in literature. The first collection of stories in the series, Go the Way Your Blood Beats, was published right here on Brittle Paper in 2019.

We are delighted to collaborate once again on the new collection of 15 stories. Something in the Water continues the effort to explore queer African experiences through complex, relatable characters and richly layered storytelling. It features stories by Ema Babikwa, Abeke Bello, Tebogo Manthata, Keratile Moses Israel, Merle Grace, Viola Konji, Rafiat Lamidi, Hugo ka Canham, Msawenkosi Motolwana, Raul Bimenyimana, Mathopa Moeti, Miriam Gayize, Caio Simões de Araújo, Lazarus Kgageng, and Thomas Alfred.

The collection is a powerful reminder of the importance to amplify, celebrate, and represent the voices of queer individuals and communities. As Darlington Chibueze Anuonye states in the Introduction:

Anathi Jongilanga, Moso Sematlane and the contributing authors to Something in the Water have called us together to a celebration of creativity and survival. By deploying literature as a force to free marginalised voices and as an agency to propel those voices to their farthest reach, they demonstrate the intentionality of the responsible artist in confronting oppression and erasure. The quiet audacity of this resistance and the empathy with which the tragic lives of ordinary characters are rendered bestow on this collection of short stories an enduring luminosity.

Congratulations to Jongilanga, Sematlane, and all the featured writers on this brilliant collection! Click on the link below and start reading. Share with friends and family, and don’t forget to leave a comment!

Something in the Water Edited by Anathi Jongilanga and Moso Sematlane