Otosirieze

Founder & Editor

Otosirieze, a writer, culture journalist, curator, and media consultant, is the founder and editor of Open Country Mag. He was editor of Folio Nigeria, CNN’s exclusive media affiliate in Africa, and has led or joined editorial teams at a host of platforms and projects in African literature. He has written about the Nigerian culture scene, covering innovation in over 20 fields including art, music, tech, sports, cuisine, fashion, journalism, sculpture, beauty, health, and activism. In literature, his Profile subjects have included Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Damon Galgut, and Tsitsi Dangarembga. His fiction has appeared in The Threepenny Review and Transition. He sat on the judging panel of The Morland Scholarship, a British grant for African writers, and currently chairs the panel of The Gerald Kraak Prize, a South African initiative for storytelling about gender, sexuality, and social justice. He has an MA in African Studies and a BA in English and History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He taught English at Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu. He is currently studying for an MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. In 2019, he received the inaugural The Future Awards Africa Prize for Literature. In 2020, he was named among “The 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians” by Avance Media. Twitter & Instagram: @otosirieze. Website: otosirieze.com.

All Works

November 21, 2022

African Comics Cross into Literature

Pearl of the Sea and KARIBA started as animation but ended as graphic novels—the former the first by Triggerfish Studios. Graphic novels are a “three-dimensional experience of literature,” said their publisher, Catalyst Press’ Jessica Powers. “Maybe we’re on the cusp of a trend across the African continent.”

Otosirieze

November 6, 2022

How Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Tony Okungbowa Traverse Trauma in YE!

The brief feature, by director John Adekoje, works memory, spirituality, and pain. “That’s indicative of the growth women have access to now,” said Egbuson-Akande, “to process our pain and become stronger, and transform, ascend.”

Otosirieze

November 4, 2022

After 2 Years Covering African Literature, Open Country Mag Expands into Film & TV

Even as we cross industries, our angle of storytelling remains to be revelatory, and our style literary.

Otosirieze

November 2, 2022

“They Don’t Know How We Feel Inside”: Families of SARS Victims Speak in Devastating Documentary

Awaiting Trial finds the emotional core of police brutality and the End SARS protests in Nigeria. It is “a deliberate telling of the consequences of the death and damage dealt on all of us,” said narrator and executive producer Chude Jideonwo.

Otosirieze

October 25, 2022

Emeka Ugwu, Newly Named Art Director of OCM, on Creating a Visual Language of Africanness

The multidisciplinary designer, whose clients include NASA, UNESCO, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, makes work that is “unusual and unique.”

Otosirieze

October 13, 2022

Open Country Mag Reissues Covers of African Literary Icons

Ahead of our second anniversary, we redesigned our covers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Damon Galgut, Tsitsi Dangarembga, and Maaza Mengiste.

Otosirieze

September 7, 2022

Booker Prize: NoViolet Bulawayo Is the First Woman to Be Shortlisted for Her First Two Novels

With Glory, the Zimbabwean joins Nigeria’s Chigozie Obioma and India’s Rohinton Mistry in an elite group.

Otosirieze

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

May 13, 2022

The O. Henry Prize Series Opens to African Magazines (Exclusive)

Series Editor Jenny Minton Quigley on celebrating the short story form and the ripple effect of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s guest-editing role.

Otosirieze

May 4, 2022

Poet Okwudili Nebeolisa Wins Prairie Lights Fiction Contest

“I have always looked for validation for my short stories,” he said of the recognition from the Iowa City bookshop.

Otosirieze

November 21, 2022

African Comics Cross into Literature

Pearl of the Sea and KARIBA started as animation but ended as graphic novels—the former the first by Triggerfish Studios. Graphic novels are a “three-dimensional experience of literature,” said their publisher, Catalyst Press’ Jessica Powers. “Maybe we’re on the cusp of a trend across the African continent.”

Otosirieze

November 6, 2022

How Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Tony Okungbowa Traverse Trauma in YE!

The brief feature, by director John Adekoje, works memory, spirituality, and pain. “That’s indicative of the growth women have access to now,” said Egbuson-Akande, “to process our pain and become stronger, and transform, ascend.”

Otosirieze

November 4, 2022

After 2 Years Covering African Literature, Open Country Mag Expands into Film & TV

Even as we cross industries, our angle of storytelling remains to be revelatory, and our style literary.

Otosirieze

November 2, 2022

“They Don’t Know How We Feel Inside”: Families of SARS Victims Speak in Devastating Documentary

Awaiting Trial finds the emotional core of police brutality and the End SARS protests in Nigeria. It is “a deliberate telling of the consequences of the death and damage dealt on all of us,” said narrator and executive producer Chude Jideonwo.

Otosirieze

October 25, 2022

Emeka Ugwu, Newly Named Art Director of OCM, on Creating a Visual Language of Africanness

The multidisciplinary designer, whose clients include NASA, UNESCO, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, makes work that is “unusual and unique.”

Otosirieze

October 13, 2022

Open Country Mag Reissues Covers of African Literary Icons

Ahead of our second anniversary, we redesigned our covers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Damon Galgut, Tsitsi Dangarembga, and Maaza Mengiste.

Otosirieze

September 7, 2022

Booker Prize: NoViolet Bulawayo Is the First Woman to Be Shortlisted for Her First Two Novels

With Glory, the Zimbabwean joins Nigeria’s Chigozie Obioma and India’s Rohinton Mistry in an elite group.

Otosirieze

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

May 13, 2022

The O. Henry Prize Series Opens to African Magazines (Exclusive)

Series Editor Jenny Minton Quigley on celebrating the short story form and the ripple effect of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s guest-editing role.

Otosirieze

May 4, 2022

Poet Okwudili Nebeolisa Wins Prairie Lights Fiction Contest

“I have always looked for validation for my short stories,” he said of the recognition from the Iowa City bookshop.

Otosirieze