Books & Literature
Arts & Entertainment
The Storyteller's Art: Reading Tunde Onakoya's Chess Narrative
A reflection on Tunde Onakoya's storytelling about teaching chess to over 10,000 children across four countries and placing 1,000 on full scholarships. The writer examines how Onakoya's narrative operates as both a development story and a work of deliberate artistry, challenging stereotypes about poverty and intellectual potential.
Zebra Comics and the Reimagining of African Storytelling
This piece traces the evolution of comics from dismissal as juvenile entertainment to recognition as serious art, then pivots to celebrate Zebra Comics PLC, a Cameroonian digital platform founded in 2016 that creates original African comics, webtoons, and manga for global audiences. The writer positions the venture as a response to the dominance of Western and Japanese imports in African popular culture and a counter to the reading crisis among young people on the continent.
Rap as Existential Confession: On Listening for the Demons
A reflection on why rap music, at its best, resonates so deeply with those who love language—not for technical virtuosity alone, but for its capacity to articulate the internal battles of conscience, identity, and meaning that define human existence. The writer traces this through personal listening history and finds in Poker Ship's 'Young Monsters' a return to rap's essential form: raw testimony without easy answers.
We Need Our Own Heroes: Reading Albert Acha as Cameroonian Myth
The writer reflects on the absence of African fictional heroes in his own imagination, shaped by Western comic pantheons, and discovers in Hesley Fonane's detective novel *Sense Pass King: The Case Files of Albert Acha* a Cameroonian character worthy of that mythic weight—one who reads the signs of his own landscape and mind with precision.
The Weight of Legacy: What Tywin Lannister Teaches Us About Living for Something
The writer reflects on Tywin Lannister's singular devotion to family legacy and generational power, seeing in this fictional character a model for deliberate, purposeful living. Drawing on Tywin's philosophy and comparing it to real examples of people who built lasting contributions, the piece asks readers what they themselves will be remembered for.
Fifteen Lessons from Game of Thrones: Power, Honour, and the Cost of Ambition
A close rereading of Game of Thrones' first seven seasons yields practical wisdom about leadership, relationships, and survival in corrupt systems. The writer extracts fifteen lessons from character arcs and dialogue—from the danger of rigid honour to the value of counsel and humility—and applies them to business and life.
Interesting Quotes from Game of Thrones
A curated collection of memorable quotations from Game of Thrones, drawn from the writer's re-watch of the series. The quotes span themes of power, leadership, loyalty, self-knowledge, and moral ambiguity—material the writer found resonant enough to share with Poise's readership.
Meet Saadat Hasan Manto
Poise introduces the Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto—celebrated for fearless, satirical treatment of social taboos in mid-twentieth-century India and Pakistan—through a curated selection of his most piercing quotes on religion, gender, inequality, and the writer's moral duty.
On Quotation and the Wilde Wit
Poise presents a curated selection of Oscar Wilde's most memorable aphorisms—sharp observations on human nature, morality, and social pretense—alongside a reminder that wit itself is often borrowed, a point Wilde himself understood.