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In the closing movements of The Winter and the Ash, Dr. Amara Ukonu leaves us with a profound realization: “I did not begin this story to make sense of grief... I began because memory is fragile.” As we settle into this new week, we find ourselves in the heart of the "long middle." The initial adrenaline of the new year and the new month has begun to settle into a steady hum. It is exactly in this space—where the novelty wears off—that our intentions are most at risk of being

In the final pages of The Winter and the Ash, Dr. Amara Ukonu observes that "too many names have disappeared between the lines of history—unspoken, unburied, and unheld." As we cross the threshold into this new month, we are doing more than just flipping a calendar page. We are deciding which parts of our story we will carry forward and which parts we will finally allow to rest. February often arrives with a quieter, more insistent demand than January; the "winter" of our rou

In the final reflections of The Winter and the Ash, Dr. Amara Ukonu speaks of a specific kind of brotherhood: one built not just on blood, but on “absence, music, fire.” As we navigate the middle of this week, we often find ourselves in the "absence"—the space between our high expectations and our current reality. Last week, we focused on the courage to play the first note. This week, we must look at what it means to keep playing when the fire of the new year has cooled into

In the final pages of The Winter and the Ash, Dr. Amara Ukonu leaves us with a hauntingly beautiful observation: “There are things grief refuses to explain.” As we move further into this month, we often find ourselves in the "long middle"—that stretch of time where the initial sparks of January begin to cool, and the weight of our personal histories begins to press against our new intentions. We are navigating the space between who we were in the "shadows of war and winter" a

Ọzọ Emena: January 15 and the Silence Between Our Wars January 15 occupies a strange and heavy place in Nigeria’s memory. It is marked officially as Armed Forces Remembrance Day—a day to honour those who died in service to the Nigerian state. But for many Nigerians, particularly in the East, it is also something else entirely: the day the Biafra War ended, on January 15, 1970. A day of surrender. A day of survival. A day of unresolved grief. It is also, in the quiet architect

Happy New Year, everyone. There is a line from Dr. Nnamdi Nwogwugwu’s latest work that has been haunting me as the calendar turned: "Exile is not just a place. It is the silence between who you were and who you are becoming". As we stand at the threshold of a new year, many of us are navigating our own kind of "winter between worlds". We are leaving behind the "fire" of past conflicts and learning to live with the "ash" that settles in our bones afterward. Whether we are phys

I wrote Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter because, as I say in the text, “memory is fragile. Because silence is patient — and skilled at erasing.” Born in the dying days of the Biafran War, and writing the first pages of this story while navigating medical school and my own dark night of the soul — as the first cracks of the collapsing Soviet empire spread across Eastern Europe — my life has been shaped by the quiet griefs of nations fractured by conflict. Tod

Exile is often seen as a physical displacement, a forced removal from home or country. Yet, the story told in Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter, Volume Two reveals a deeper truth. Exile is not just a place or a moment in history. It becomes a lasting condition, passed down through generations, shaping identities and lives long after the original conflict has ended. This post explores how the echoes of exile settle within us, influencing who we are and how we

Author: Dr Nnamdi Nwogwugwu Publisher: BookFuel Place of Publication: London Date of Publication: 2025 Volume: 44 Chapters, spread across 657 pages Reviewer: Professor Samuel Ngozi Agu Introduction The book, Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter : The Fire and the Flight , written by Dr Nnamdi Nwogwugwu blends fiction, history and experience. It is a philosophically rich and symbolically charged narrative that weaves together memory, trauma, flight, hope, and the

For today’s Nigerian youth, the drive for a new future is constantly weighed down by a deep, inherited skepticism about their nation’s foundations. The book, Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter, shows that the struggles of the past still define the rhythm of the present. 1. The War That Changed Uniforms When the Nigerian students arrive in the USSR, they instantly weaponize old tribal slurs and historical wounds against one another, proving that exile cannot era

In Nigeria today, the word "Japa"—the mass exodus of young professionals—is less about migrating for money and more about finding the space to breathe. But what happens when we reach that "better place" and discover the deepest ache we sought to escape was inside us all along? This profound question is explored in Nnamdi Nwogwugwu’s powerful novel, Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter: The Winter and The Ash. THE UNSPOKEN WAR A Legacy of Silence: The protagonist,

"The problem with Nigeria is not forgetting—it's how we remember." — Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter 13th July 2025:...

“Even the wind remembers.” — Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War and Winter This week, as the world marks the International Day of...

Nkasiobi Ikenna, or Kasi, is more than a protagonist. He is the echo of a generation born in the silence after a scream—the forgotten...

PTSD Awareness Day is more than a date on the calendar. It is an invitation — to listen, to remember, to witness. In Once Upon a Time in...

In the aftermath of war, what happens to the stories we silence? Explore the emotional heart of Once Upon a Time in the Shadows of War...