Author Topic: CoW Ep. 375: Banned Books Week – Reclaiming Our Narratives  (Read 781 times)

Languorous Lass

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Cast of Wonders 375: Banned Books Week – Reclaiming Our Narratives

• Authors: Innocent Chizaram Ilo, Maya Prasad, and Joyce Chng
• Narrators: Solomon Osadolo, Athena Haq, and John Chu
• Host: Julia Rios
• Audio Producer: Jeremy Carter
• Artist: Alexis Goble

Cast of Wonders 375: Banned Books Week – Reclaiming Our Narratives is a Cast of Wonders original.

Click here to listen to Episode 375

"Our Skin Will Now Bear the Testimonies" by Innocent Chizaram Ilo

“Nduka, you better hurry or you’ll be late for school! Your breakfast is getting cold and you know you don’t like when curds form in your pap!” Aniele calls from the kitchen.

“Yes Mama,” Nduka answers from his bedroom.

The boy tiptoes to the door and gently bolts it before unbuttoning his school shirt. He stands in front of the mirror and looks at the string of words that snails along his belly.




"Weeds" by Maya Prasad

The neutrality of the algorithms of the Grid is a lie.

The words I’m writing are practically heresy in the Inner Galaxy, where the artificial intelligence of the Grid directs every aspect of our lives, from our jobs to our production patterns to our partners.

AI led me to my boyfriend Krishna. AI led me to gardening, a meditative hobby with underlying physical science. AI even offers me therapy, statistically accumulated advice on how to handle my overbearing mother.




"Metal Can Lanterns" by Joyce Chng

Zhen dodged through the heaving crowd. It was early evening and the main street had filled with sweaty bodies, walking legs, and rude exclamations. Zhen gripped his sister’s hand tightly, slipping past the guards, and ducking into an alley. He smiled as they skirted past the huge metal dumpsters and the bags of disposables. He didn’t need to scavenge any items from them for reuse. He was already holding a bag of small aluminum cans in one hand. They jiggled. It was a reassuring sound.

At last they reached the abandoned watchtower that had become their special hiding place. Nobody bothered them there, not even the factory supervisors who made their lives difficult and called them names. Pa said that it was a relic from the last war. Most people, especially the elderly, avoided the watchtower. Po Po wouldn’t even talk about it, no matter how much Zhen and Ziling tried to tease information out of her. Their grandmother’s usually cheerful eyes would cloud over when they broached the topic. “Don’t go there,” she would warn. “Bad things happened there.” Then she would tell them about the gwai, the ghosts whose undead spirits lingered on to torment the living.


Tags:   Alexis Goble, Athena Haq, Banned Books Week, Biology, Cast of Wonders, celebration, choice, Fantasy, gender, ink, Innocent Chizaram Ilo, Jeremy Carter, John Chu, Joyce Chng, Julia Rios, Maya Prasad, oppression, plants, propaganda, reclaiming our narratives, revolution, Science Fiction, Solomon Osadolo, stories, tattoos, Young Adult fiction