The Story Archive

Stickfighting Days

Olufemi Terry · 2009 CE · Short Story · West African · Contemporary

Boys who sniff glue and live on a rubbish dump turn stick duels into a ritual with rules, ranks and champions. The story follows that order and the violence inside it, in what Terry has called a heroic culture Homeric in its scale. First published in Chimurenga, it won the Caine Prize for its Sierra Leonean author.

Open Stickfighting Days in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Attributes

Genre
Theme
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Form
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Mode / tone
Culture / tradition

Closest analogues