Open Country Mag : Africa : Books, Film and TV, Culture

Books

Our Top Stories of 2024

From a groundbreaking Profile of Cardinal Arinze to a feature on Liberia’s lack of a literary bookstore, to the story of a novelist-cum-soldier: these stories of artists and industry shapers in African literature, Nollywood, and culture defined our year.

Otosirieze

The Prodigious Arrival of Arinze Ifeakandu

In an era of unearned hype, the novelistic short stories of God’s Children Are Little Broken Things established him as a major talent, earning him the Dylan Thomas Prize. But as potent as fiction is in combating queer erasure, he believes in the supplement of living openly.

Paula Willie-Okafor

A Navy Pilot Pivoted to Writing, Spurred by Surrealists

While flying military helicopters, Umar Abubakar Sidi wrote the two top-selling poetry books in Nigeria. Now he has a novel. One day, he will write about military life: “It is a reality I cannot escape.”

Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera

Abi Daré Claims Her Space

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice and And So I Roar on her writing process.

Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

New Writing & Excerpts

“This Grasping for Hope Walks with Us”

20.35 Africa Vol. VII, guest-edited by Kwame Opoku-Duku, is introduced by managing editor Precious Okpechi: “A sense of belonging permeates the poems in this anthology, an acceptance of one’s place in a flawed world.”

20.35 Africa

“Thinking Through Tremor”

Morality as an uncanny city in Teju Cole’s second novel: “And if we are to think of music as a sort of shield for him, then we are invited to think of his dead friend as having once played that same role in his life.”

Reyumeh Ejue

“‘Our Literature Has Died Again’: Nigerian Writing in the Era of the Nomadists”

As conversations sethe about the “death” of Nigerian literature and the loss of authenticity in its poetry, a writer counters for the growing japa-MFA subculture: “I call them the Nomadic Generation because of their complication of nationalism.”

Kanyinsola Olorunnisola

“Creating a New Tradition in African Poetry”

20.35 Africa Vol. VI, edited by Nick Makoha and Safia Jama, is introduced by the series’ managing editor Precious Okpechi: “The poets understand that history evolves with us.”

20.35 Africa

Book Reviews

This Motherless Land

Nikki May

★★★★★ 3.5/5

When We Were Fireflies

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

★★★★★ 3.7/5

I Am Still with You

Emmanuel Iduma

★★★★★ 3/5

Imagination’s Many Rooms

Amatoritsero Ede

★★★★★ 2.5/5

My Seven Black Fathers

Will Jawando

★★★★★ 3/5

God’s Children Are Little Broken Things

Arinze Ifeakandu

★★★★★ 5/5

Shop

The Stone Breakers

Emmanuel Dongala

In the fifth novel by Dongala, a major figure in Francophone African literature, Congolese women, working as stone crushers at a gravel pit, demand higher wages.

Ghost Season

Fatin Abbas

This sweeping tale of the breakup of Sudan explores the porous and perilous nature of borders ― national, ethnic, or religious ― and the profound consequences of crossing them.

Gaslight

Femi Kayode

The second novel in a mystery series following investigator Taiwo Philips, who tries to crack a conspiracy around a religious leader accused of murder.

Whites Can Dance Too

Kalaf Epalanga

A reflection on and celebration of Angolan music, the intertwining of cultural roots, freedom, and love.

Film & TV

In the Lives of Three Couples, a Vision for Queer Love

The documentary This Is Love shows Nigerians who “live beautiful love stories in a place where the love they share is taboo.” After a Best LGBT Feature win at Brazil’s Bahia Independent Cinema Festival, director and co-producer Victor Ugoo knows that “distribution seems to be the hardest part of filmmaking.”

Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

A Small Indie Producer Bets on Social Justice Cinema

Godwin Harrison’s “advocacy-led” HUG Media Concept is “about using cinema to address issues.” His new film Ima’mi is based on his life as an Efik prince who was outed as gay.

Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

With the S16 Film Festival, an Arthouse Collective Locks Its Focus

A trio of young filmmakers banded together as the Surreal16 Collective, to resist Nollywood clichés. At their festival, Michael Omonua, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, and Abba T. Makama curate a haven for unorthodox filmmakers.

Michael Aromolaran

How Tolu Obanro, Nollywood’s Top Composer, Crafts the Sounds of Its Biggest Hits

Hopping between genres, his scores are heard in almost every major recent box office and streaming success, including A Tribe Called Judah, Jagun Jagun, Gangs of Lagos, and Battle on Buka Street. “I’ve been trusted by filmmakers,” he said.