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Search Results for: toni morrison

December 30, 2020

Toni Morrison’s Personal Collection of 1,200+ Books

They include books by and about Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Gayl Jones, Henry Dumas, James Baldwin, Mark Twain, the Obamas, and the Clintons.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Toni Morrison's personal library. Credit: Brown Harris Stevens.

July 18, 2023

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
Sarah Ladipo Manyika on Facebook

February 13, 2023

“Friendship, to Me, Is What Saves One’s Sanity”: Wole Soyinka

In this excerpt from Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s Between Starshine and Clay, the Nobel laureate and his friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr. remember another friend: the late Toni Morrison.
Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Wole Soyinka. Credit: University of Oxford.

January 24, 2026

60 Notable Books of 2025

From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Stella Nyanzi to Alain Mabanckou, Siphiwe Ndlovu, and Laila Lalami: the notable African books of 2025, guest curated by the literary culture critic Tolu Daniel.
Open Country Mag
Open Country Mag's 60 Notable African Books of 2025

December 10, 2025

Wole Soyinka Is on the December 2025 Cover of Open Country Mag

He inherited the drama of the gods and became the greatest living writer. But at 91, in the long rage of Nigerian nationhood, his deep political legacy is at a crossroads.
Otosirieze

November 29, 2025

Ikenna Okeh’s Quest for Authenticity

To tell their stories, the author of Yahoo! Yahoo! imitates his characters. If he writes about scammers, he wants readers to suspect him of scamming. Why should Nigerian literature not be as relatable as its music? And why, as director of the Puebla International Literature Festival, should he not want writers to take an ethical stand?
Victor Ebubechukwu Orji
Ikenna Okeh. Credit: Puebla Literary Festival.

January 28, 2025

Translating Under Empire

As Series Editors of Global Black Writers in Translation, Vanessa K. Valdés, Anette Joseph-Gabriel, and Nathan H. Dize know that “Black literature is the least translated.” In a mostly white field, the long histories of Afro-diasporic, Caribbean, Spanish, French, and Portuguese erasures inform their work.
Otosirieze
Vanessa K. Valdes, Annette Joseph-Gabriel, and Nathan Dize, series editors of Global Black Writers in Translation.

January 16, 2025

60 Notable Books of 2024

From Chigozie Obioma, Sulaiman Addonia, Reem Gafar, and Dinaw Mengestu to Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Abi Dare, and Nadifa Mohamed: the notable books of 2024 by Africans.
Open Country Mag
Open Country Mag's Notable Books of 2024

December 28, 2023

Our Top Stories of 2023

From major Profiles of actors Rita Dominic and Chidi Mokeme to the inspiring stories of chess master Tunde Onakoya and poet Tares Oburumu, to revealing dives into craft: these stories show our range.
Otosirieze
Evelyne Ily as Prisca in Mami Wata

November 28, 2023

The Overlapping Realisms of Eloghosa Osunde

In their debut novel-in-stories Vagabonds!, the Nigerian writer and visual artist pursues an alternate reality of their mind, taking on, among other subjects, social normalcy, gender, and queerness.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera
Eloghosa Osunde. Supplied.

August 5, 2023

Introduction to 20.35 Africa Vol. VI: “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
20.35 Africa Vol. VI

February 11, 2023

Anticipated Books of 2023

From Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ben Okri, and Leila Aboulela to Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Ayobami Adebayo, here are the over 100 books expected to lead the literary conversation this year.
Open Country Mag
The Anticipated Books of 2023

January 17, 2023

“Black and Female”

The first essay collection from the PEN Pinter Prize winner and Booker Prize-nominated novelist: “That which is dead does not feel. We are not dead while we protest.”
Tsitsi Dangarembga
tsitsi dangarembga - BLACK AND FEMALE By Tsitsi Dangarembga

November 15, 2022

The Mystery of Sofia Samatar

The enigmatic American-Somali novelist, poet, and academic on her new memoir The White Mosque, literary hybridity, and the “dystopian hypocrisy” of social media.
Diriye Osman
Sofia Samatar by PETER A. DUFFY for WIRED

July 23, 2022

In Conversation with Lan Samantha Chang, Director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

The influential Chinese American novelist on running the famed program, new African writing, MFAs, literary genres, and her novel The Family Chao. “There is the possibility of creating the conversation that brings in as many voices as possible,” she said of the Workshop.
Otosirieze
Lan Samantha Chang by IfeOluwa Nihinlola

April 9, 2022

Inside The Cheeky Natives, Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane & Alma-Nalisha Cele’s Archive of Intentionality

The lawyer and the doctor on podcasting, documenting South Africa’s Black voices, and getting African literature its own due.
Otosirieze
Alma-Nalisha Cisse (L) and Letlhogonolo Mogkoroane (R) of The Cheeky Natives.

February 12, 2022

The Methods of Damon Galgut

How the South African naturalist, a prodigy, innovated major work on masculinity, race, memory, and time—and then, at the tip of his 40-year career, came the Booker Prize.
Otosirieze
Damon Galgut by Michaela Verity

January 11, 2022

On an Eastern Nigerian Campus, a New Literary Hotspot

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.
Uzoma Ihejirika
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera and Mark Anthony Obumneme Osuchukwu, founders of Eagle Nest Book Club.

January 4, 2022

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo Review—What Does It Mean for a Woman to Reclaim Herself?

A mixed-race woman’s search for her father in a fictional country.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

July 19, 2021

“We Once Belonged to the Sea”

In the Somali writer’s debut novel, a tense dynamic between a gifted reclusive lesbian artist and her punk hijabi protégé.
Diriye Osman
Diriye Osman - We Once Belonged to the Sea.

December 30, 2020

Toni Morrison's personal library. Credit: Brown Harris Stevens.

Toni Morrison’s Personal Collection of 1,200+ Books

They include books by and about Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Gayl Jones, Henry Dumas, James Baldwin, Mark Twain, the Obamas, and the Clintons.
Ernest Ogunyemi

July 18, 2023

Sarah Ladipo Manyika on Facebook

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

February 13, 2023

Wole Soyinka. Credit: University of Oxford.

“Friendship, to Me, Is What Saves One’s Sanity”: Wole Soyinka

In this excerpt from Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s Between Starshine and Clay, the Nobel laureate and his friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr. remember another friend: the late Toni Morrison.
Sarah Ladipo Manyika

January 24, 2026

Open Country Mag's 60 Notable African Books of 2025

60 Notable Books of 2025

From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Stella Nyanzi to Alain Mabanckou, Siphiwe Ndlovu, and Laila Lalami: the notable African books of 2025, guest curated by the literary culture critic Tolu Daniel.
Open Country Mag

December 10, 2025

Wole Soyinka Is on the December 2025 Cover of Open Country Mag

He inherited the drama of the gods and became the greatest living writer. But at 91, in the long rage of Nigerian nationhood, his deep political legacy is at a crossroads.
Otosirieze

November 29, 2025

Ikenna Okeh. Credit: Puebla Literary Festival.

Ikenna Okeh’s Quest for Authenticity

To tell their stories, the author of Yahoo! Yahoo! imitates his characters. If he writes about scammers, he wants readers to suspect him of scamming. Why should Nigerian literature not be as relatable as its music? And why, as director of the Puebla International Literature Festival, should he not want writers to take an ethical stand?
Victor Ebubechukwu Orji

January 28, 2025

Vanessa K. Valdes, Annette Joseph-Gabriel, and Nathan Dize, series editors of Global Black Writers in Translation.

Translating Under Empire

As Series Editors of Global Black Writers in Translation, Vanessa K. Valdés, Anette Joseph-Gabriel, and Nathan H. Dize know that “Black literature is the least translated.” In a mostly white field, the long histories of Afro-diasporic, Caribbean, Spanish, French, and Portuguese erasures inform their work.
Otosirieze

January 16, 2025

Open Country Mag's Notable Books of 2024

60 Notable Books of 2024

From Chigozie Obioma, Sulaiman Addonia, Reem Gafar, and Dinaw Mengestu to Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Abi Dare, and Nadifa Mohamed: the notable books of 2024 by Africans.
Open Country Mag

December 28, 2023

Evelyne Ily as Prisca in Mami Wata

Our Top Stories of 2023

From major Profiles of actors Rita Dominic and Chidi Mokeme to the inspiring stories of chess master Tunde Onakoya and poet Tares Oburumu, to revealing dives into craft: these stories show our range.
Otosirieze

November 28, 2023

Eloghosa Osunde. Supplied.

The Overlapping Realisms of Eloghosa Osunde

In their debut novel-in-stories Vagabonds!, the Nigerian writer and visual artist pursues an alternate reality of their mind, taking on, among other subjects, social normalcy, gender, and queerness.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera

August 5, 2023

20.35 Africa Vol. VI

Introduction to 20.35 Africa Vol. VI: “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

February 11, 2023

The Anticipated Books of 2023

Anticipated Books of 2023

From Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ben Okri, and Leila Aboulela to Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Ayobami Adebayo, here are the over 100 books expected to lead the literary conversation this year.
Open Country Mag

January 17, 2023

tsitsi dangarembga - BLACK AND FEMALE By Tsitsi Dangarembga

“Black and Female”

The first essay collection from the PEN Pinter Prize winner and Booker Prize-nominated novelist: “That which is dead does not feel. We are not dead while we protest.”
Tsitsi Dangarembga

November 15, 2022

Sofia Samatar by PETER A. DUFFY for WIRED

The Mystery of Sofia Samatar

The enigmatic American-Somali novelist, poet, and academic on her new memoir The White Mosque, literary hybridity, and the “dystopian hypocrisy” of social media.
Diriye Osman

July 23, 2022

Lan Samantha Chang by IfeOluwa Nihinlola

In Conversation with Lan Samantha Chang, Director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

The influential Chinese American novelist on running the famed program, new African writing, MFAs, literary genres, and her novel The Family Chao. “There is the possibility of creating the conversation that brings in as many voices as possible,” she said of the Workshop.
Otosirieze

April 9, 2022

Alma-Nalisha Cisse (L) and Letlhogonolo Mogkoroane (R) of The Cheeky Natives.

Inside The Cheeky Natives, Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane & Alma-Nalisha Cele’s Archive of Intentionality

The lawyer and the doctor on podcasting, documenting South Africa’s Black voices, and getting African literature its own due.
Otosirieze

February 12, 2022

Damon Galgut by Michaela Verity

The Methods of Damon Galgut

How the South African naturalist, a prodigy, innovated major work on masculinity, race, memory, and time—and then, at the tip of his 40-year career, came the Booker Prize.
Otosirieze

January 11, 2022

Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera and Mark Anthony Obumneme Osuchukwu, founders of Eagle Nest Book Club.

On an Eastern Nigerian Campus, a New Literary Hotspot

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.
Uzoma Ihejirika

January 4, 2022

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo Review—What Does It Mean for a Woman to Reclaim Herself?

A mixed-race woman’s search for her father in a fictional country.
Ernest Ogunyemi

July 19, 2021

Diriye Osman - We Once Belonged to the Sea.

“We Once Belonged to the Sea”

In the Somali writer’s debut novel, a tense dynamic between a gifted reclusive lesbian artist and her punk hijabi protégé.
Diriye Osman

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