Top Stories
Cover Story: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Is in a Different Place Now 
Inside a Nigerian Literary and Arts Hub 
TJ Benson Holds History and Hope 
Cover Story: The Worldly Ways of Teju Cole 
Mark Gevisser’s Long Mission of Queer Visibility 
Eight Poets Up for 2021 Brunel Prize 
4 Poetry Prizes That Are Currently Open 
5 Magazines Currently Accepting Submissions
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Features
by Uzoma Ihejirika
The forthcoming short film, a love story set in Enugu State, Nigeria, is Wapah Ezeigwe’s directorial debut. “I wasn’t willing to compromise any of my artistic vision,” they said.
by Lolwe
The Pan-African publication’s newest includes writing and photography. Read the editorial note by its founder Troy Onyango.
by Uzoma Ihejirika
In Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, writers are gathering to converse and perform at Eagle Nest Book Club. “It is likely we have created something that will outstay us in this place,” said the founders.
by Doek! Magazine
The Namibian magazine’s latest issue, Soon/Come, features contributors from three continents. Read the editorial note by its founder Remy Ngamije.
Books
by Emmanuel Esomnofu
The Teller of Secrets, originally published in Nigeria as Of Women and Frogs, and Daughters in Exile were acquired in a 6-figure deal.
by Paula Willie-Okafor
The Nigerian poet shows perplexities with measured control and composure—a detached storyteller with the simple yet daring assignment of pointing “humanity to the loss of itself.”
by Paula Willie-Okafor
Years ago in Nigeria, the activist was attacked by a mob for being gay. “Alongside my personal story is a call to action,” he wrote about his new memoir.
by Emmanuel Esomnofu
The story, moving from Ghana to Spain, has been called “a stunning testament to the strength of the human spirit.”
Her second novel, the monumental Half of a Yellow Sun, was a major step in her singular cultural exceptionality. Fifteen years on, in Open Country Mag’s first sit-down interview, the great writer and careful thinker looks back, reckoning with her private losses and public evolution.
by Otosirieze Obi-Young
Events
by Uzoma Ihejirika
In Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, writers are gathering to converse and perform at Eagle Nest Book Club. “It is likely we have created something that will outstay us in this place,” said the founders.
by Paula Willie-Okafor
Their chat will be on Zoom.
by Uzoma Ihejirika
“The major goal for me isn’t so much breaking the Guinness records,” one of them, Bayode Olawunmi-Treasures, has said: “it is to make reading great again.”
Opportunities
by The AKO Caine Prize
The £10,000 award went to Ethiopia’s Meron Hadero in 2021.
by Open Country Mag
It is guest-edited by Mahtem Shiferraw.
Community
by Uzoma Ihejirika
In Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, writers are gathering to converse and perform at Eagle Nest Book Club. “It is likely we have created something that will outstay us in this place,” said the founders.
by Paula Willie-Okafor
He testified before the Zondo Commission. “I implicated 39 parties in my testimony so threats could come from many places,” he said. “I’ve faced alienation by corporate South Africa, from the university where I taught ethics. . . and I’ve been let down by many friends.”
by Emmanuel Esomnofu
The Booker Prize winner performs his letter in a video with his family, ahead of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). “It’s time,” he said, “to show that we human beings can be a great force for good on this planet.”
The South African stylist, the fifth African to win, had previously been shortlisted twice. The judges called his winning ninth novel “a strong, unambiguous commentary on the history of South Africa and of humanity itself.”
by Otosirieze Obi-Young
Videos
