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

Books

Sarah Ladipo Manyika Is Curious About Culture Icons

In Between Starshine and Clay, the novelist interviews Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, and Wole Soyinka, among other major Black figures in the arts and politics. “One of the things that was the most surprising was the actual extent to which they forged their own path,” she said.

Otosirieze

Caleb Azumah Nelson on Small Worlds, Open Water, and Black Spaces

In two acclaimed and bestselling novels, the British Ghanaian writer and photographer has enlarged his terrain from love and art to family and memory. “I wanted to take my sentences past this thing of knowledge and more toward feeling,” he said. “It feels like a progression in the questions I’m asking, specifically around identity and Blackness, but, really, around love.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

Binyavanga Wainaina’s Great Scatter of Work (Exclusive)

How to Write About Africa gathers vivid, powerful essays and fiction by the late Kenyan icon. Its editor Achal Prabhala talks compiling it, a second posthumous book, and an uncompleted novel. “Much is made of what he did for other writers, but it was his own writing that did it for me,” he said.

Otosirieze

How Damilare Kuku Topped Nigeria’s First Ever Bestseller List

Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad, the actress’ debut collection of stories, sold over 2,200 copies, assuring it the No. 1 spot on The Rovingheights Bestseller List: Presented with Open Country Mag. So why do these stories of failing romance connect so widely?

Paula Willie-Okafor

New Writing & Excerpts

“‘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

“The Quality of Mercy”

Following The Theory of Flight and The History of Man, the Windham Campbell Prize winner concludes her City of Kings trilogy: “Her unsolved murder made what he needed to do now very difficult.”

Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu

“River Spirit”

The Women’s Prize-nominated and Caine Prize-winning author returns with her sixth novel, set in 1880s Sudan: “This is why she does not stop when she feels the sting. What sting?”

Leila Aboulela

Book Reviews

When We Were Fireflies

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

★★★★★ 3.4/5

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

Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time

Teju Cole

★★★★★ 4/5

Shop

How to Write About Africa

Binyavanga Wainaina

The late literary icon’s nonfiction, satire, and fiction. With introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Honey and Spice

Bolu Babalola

An expert in relationship-evasion and radio show host finds herself opening up to something deeper. A Reese Book Club pick and bestseller in Nigeria and the US.

Tomorrow I Become a Woman

Aiwanose Odafen

A complex relationship between a mother and a daughter as they grapple with tremendous loss and societal expectations. Bestseller in Nigeria.

Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora

Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Interviews with distinguished black figures of our time: Toni Morrison, Claudia Rankine, Wole Soyinka, Michelle Obama, and more.

Film & TV

The Epic, Transformative Comeback of Chidi Mokeme

A long career playing playboys and villains, including a soldier in ’76 and real-life robber Monday Osunbor, set him apart as an intriguing supporting act. But after a moment of personal adversity, he dug deep and returned in Shanty Town — a domineering leading turn unlike any other we have seen in Nollywood.

Otosirieze

Cover Story: Rita Dominic’s Visions of Character

Since she erupted in The Meeting, playing against type as a hilariously antagonistic receptionist, the superstar has embodied complex women, including a soldier’s wife in ’76 and a bewitching singer in La Femme Anjola. Now, 25 years into her career, she is Nollywood’s most critically acclaimed actor, and Open Country Mag‘s first film cover star. But where does she draw from to inhabit these women?

Otosirieze

How Mami Wata Swam to Sundance

The fantasy revenge thriller is Nigeria’s first indigenously produced film to go to Sundance, a first it already notched at Venice. “We tapped into something beyond us while making this one,” said producer Oge Obasi. “Hopefully, that opens more doors for Nigerian filmmakers,” said director C.J. Obasi.

Otosirieze

Adeola Osunkojo on Directing the Characters and Romances of Love Like This

“Love is a good point for telling stories because it brings out all the other emotions of pain, happiness, joy, euphoria, and sadness,” she said of the warmly received Ndani TV web series. “And it’s what our audience—a lot of them—want in their lives.”

Uzoma Ihejirika

Film & TV Reviews

The Real Housewives of Lagos

Bravo and Livespot 360

★★★★★ 3.6/5

Battle on Buka Street

Funke Akindele and Tobi Makinde

★★★★★ 4.3/5

The Trade

Jade Osiberu

★★★★★ 3.5/5

King of Thieves (Agesinkole)

Adebayo Tijani and Tope Adebayo

★★★★★ 3.3/5

Gangs of Lagos

Jade Osiberu

★★★★★ 3.3/5

Brotherhood

Loukman Ali

★★★★★ 2.9/5

Streaming

Bar Afrique

Sarah Masiyiwa & Line Talla

The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah

BBC: The Reich Lecture 2022: The Freedom of Speech

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Storytalk with a Nigerian Girl

Augustina Okpechi

Issues & Covers

Culture

“Thrilling and Innovative Ideas”: Open Country Mag Names 6 Curatorial Fellows

The $6,000 initiative, sponsored by Africa No Filter, will fund and support five projects representing West, East, and Southern Africa: a musical and art exhibition, 3D fashion and storytelling, a mixed media project on Nok terracotta, a podcast on LGBTQI+ issues, and a documentary on Nollywood.

Otosirieze

A Muslim Highlife Pioneer, and ‘70s Star, Returns for Legacy

Alhaji Waziri Oshomah fused Highlife, local folk styles, and Western pop into songs of positivity in Auchi, Nigeria. When New York label Luaka Bop released The Muslim Highlife of Alhaji Waziri Oshomah in its World Spirituality Classics series last year, we spoke to musician and label about his artistry.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

From Dreams of Music, Football, & TV, a Media Executive Sets His Style

As Paramount’s Country Director for Nigeria, Bada Akintunde-Johnson wants to model a new mode of business and creative leadership. “You can’t exert the highest possible positive influence on people without connecting with them on a deep personal level,” he said in this extensive interview — the first in our Leaders of Industries Series.

Otosirieze

How Centre for Memories Conserves Igbo History and Culture

The Enugu-based hub, whose exhibitions, screenings, and lecture series have drawn 7,000 visitors, is, executive director Iheanyi Igboko says, “grooming a generation of young people who are not only grounded in their history and culture but proud of their Igbo identity.”