In ‘Sludge’, we witness the chaos of choice and the tenderness found in the unlikeliest places.
When Ifechukwu returns with unusual symptoms, Ngọọ, her discerning aunt, sees much more than paleness and lethargy, and she is right. Ifechukwu flees for refuge but is caught in the web of a faltering support system and overwhelming personal struggles.
It is a world where shame is swift and aid is slow. She must decide what to keep and what to let go.
Publishing with Naira Stories is significant because it has provided a great outlet for a story that matters.
Chiemeziem Everest Udochukwu’s writing appears or is forthcoming in EVENT Magazine, Evergreen Review, Efiko, Lolwe, and elsewhere. He won the EC Michaels’ Short Story Prize and has been a finalist for the Black Warrior Review Non-fiction Contest, the Quramo Writers Prize, the Kikwetu Flash Prize, the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize, and the Dawn Project Competition. He is an alumnus of the Nigerian Academy of Letters’ Creative Writing Workshop.
