From Esther Ifesinachi’s Isele Short Story Prize winning story, “The Year of the Sun,” to Roseline Mgbodichinma’s “Souvenir,” check out our top ten most popular fiction of the year.

The Year of the Sun | Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo

“It was his tenth year on Ani’s blessed earth. He could still see the fireflies that adorned the bush as they fled his father’s village and walked to Akpulu, his mother’s. His father had died of an unnamed illness and his mother was convinced that she could smell him everywhere in the village, taste him even.”

“The Year of the Sun” won the inaugural Isele Short Story Prize.

Pink Flower | Jennifer Dickinson

“I’m in the corner of the dining hall, nursing a tomato juice. The woman with the pink flower in her hair waves at me from her table and I look down at my scrambled eggs. Shit. I thought by coming to breakfast early I’d never have to risk sitting with another person. Florida Fantasy Independent Living is full of women and none of them seem independent. They cluster in groups, cackling. It feels like high school and I’m on the periphery again, which, unlike in my teenaged years, is fine with me now.”

“Pink Flower” won the 2023 Isele Short Story Prize.

Market Craze | Delight Chinenye Ejiaka

“I saw her wrapper in the distance and followed. The pot made it difficult to navigate through all the different bodies fighting for space. The warmth of the metal on my head rubbed against a balding spot on my scalp. Beans Woman kept shouting her son’s name and running like a mad woman.”

New short story from Delight Chinenye Ejiaka.

Potluck Jollof | Nnamdi Anyadu

“In the end, the Ladies’ Night sank into that monumental abyss of Unfulfilled Appointments, and this was why, when the girls began to talk about a potluck to celebrate the end of the year, you ignored the conversation.”

“Potluck Jollof” was shortlisted for the 2023 Isele Short Story Prize.

Daughters, By Our Hands | Ekemini Pius

“Aniema knew the edge in her mother’s voice was coming from a place of desperation. Her mother had bragged to all who cared to listen that her daughter would be a breeder, and while at it, she had made clear her distaste for non-breeders, calling them ‘Almost Women.’ Aniema knew that if she ended up not growing nails, her mother would shrink under the weight of the jeers she would receive. And, more than anything, her mother hated being proven wrong.”

“Daughters, By Our Hands” was shortlisted for the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing.

Potential For Beauty | Nelson CJ

“His mind began at the point where he could remember first noticing his beauty (15) and how, in slow, debilitating notes, he realized how little of it he possessed (bathroom mirror, dressing room mirror shopping for Christmas clothes with his father in London, bathroom mirror watching his older brother shave a clean line across his fine-boned chin, dressing room mirror shopping for Christmas clothes with his father in Abuja, the face of his school friend with his bright, animated eyes and a face free of pimples, bathroom mirrors, even more bathroom mirrors, driver side mirrors, other people’s faces). On that walk, his mind slid itself slowly shut when the sun began to die and a car whizzed past him as he turned to make his way back to the cabin.”

New short story from Nelson CJ.

Captain, What Does a Bomb Taste Like? | Kanyinsola Olorunnisola

“The destitution on display would not have surprised me, really, if not for the circumstances surrounding my presence in this house, a thirty-minute bike ride from my mother’s. Two days before, my mother had told me that she heard from Iya Kadijah who heard from Mama Suliya who heard from Iya Kofo who heard from Sisi Jemimah who heard from Mama Segi who heard from Aunty Kosironu that a certain councilwoman was looking for an artist. I raced to the town hall to meet with her that same day. The councilwoman—a real patrician type, with her French lace iro and buba adorned with triple-strand ileke necklace—told me of her friend, a war veteran who was looking to hire an artist to come to his house every Friday to paint a portrait of him. He was offering one shilling for each visit. Not even my part-time job at the local primary school was paying that much. I needed the money. In a few weeks I could afford a bus ticket to Lagos at that rate. I could finally be reunited with my person.”

New short story from Kanyinsola Olorunnisola.

The Children of No 39 Faulks Street | Innocent Chizaram Ilo

“Mothers wrapped their babies in little purple clothes and did as Ani commanded. The babies cried. At first, they thought the cries were just babies yearning for their mothers, but the crying continued, shrill, searing, causing people’s ears to bleed. And then mornings became too bright and nights took an extra layer of pitch.”

“The Children of No 30 Faulks Street” was shortlisted for the inaugural Isele Short Story Prize.

Weaving | Yvonne Kusiima

“Anyway, I watch Gran’s fingers as I move mine. Today, after one year, I will finally finish a mat. I say it to myself because we have to work in silence, so I’ve been told. It doesn’t matter that Gran keeps on talking. A minute can’t go by without her telling me something wrong I’m doing or her ayi, ayi, this old age things. I don’t even know how I made it this far. How the straws stopped looking like just straws. How the colorful patterns were born. Shish! It’s like the work of a pro. I’ll praise myself even if it has taken me more than somebody can fly to the moon and back to finish just one mat, yet Gran has weaved I don’t know how many mats and bags in the same amount of time. I’ll praise myself even if Gran refuses to praise herself. As if trying to make drinking straws beautiful is the easiest thing in the world.”

“Weaving” was shortlisted for the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing.

Souvenir | Roseline Mgbodichinma

“My body went missing when I started to touch myself. It disappeared totally into the brim of darkness with my shadows fighting to be seen. It was before men knew me, even before I knew myself. I was mining my way through everything I could not tell Uzo. I found a cure for my loneliness on the atlas of my body.”

“Souvenir” was shortlisted for the inaugural Isele Short Story Prize.