Paula Willie-Okafor, Staff Writer at Open Country Mag.

Paula Willie-Okafor

Staff Writer

Paula Willie-Okafor is a staff writer at Open Country Mag. For the magazine, she has written features, news stories, reviews of books and films, and longform Profiles of writers, including cover stories on Leila Aboulela and Chinelo Okparanta. She was a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she was custodian of The Writers’ Community (TWC). She is now studying Media and Communication at Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja. Her writing has appeared in Kissing Dynamite Magazine and Praxis Magazine.

All Works

March 25, 2025

Dream Count, Reviewed: A Great Novelist’s Chronicle of Vulnerabilities

Coming 12 years after her third novel Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s vital, splintered return to longform fiction shows classes of womanhood. It demonstrates yet again her elegant, unmatched grasp of language. In some ways, it is also different from her previous novels.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 6, 2024

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

November 17, 2024

4 Films Arriving at the End of 2024

A franchise entry from Funke Akindele, another Yoruba historical feature by Femi Adebayo, a supernatural thriller starring Stan Nze, and a romantic flick with Shaffy Bello.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 19, 2024

House of Ga’a, Reviewed: The Fall of an Oyo Empire Kingmaker

Bolanle Austen-Peters’ meaty biopic and historical epic about Bashorun Ga’a succeeds in keeping audiences perched on the edge of their seats, aided by good production and Femi Branch’s charisma.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 19, 2024

This Motherless Land by Nikki May, Reviewed: A Mixed-Race Woman Seeks Belonging

Entertaining and heart-wrenching, Nikki May’s sophomore novel is most fun when she draws parallels between Nigeria and England, with punchily rendered bits of cultural insight.

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 28, 2024

A Tribe Called Judah, Reviewed: A Box Office-Breaking Heist of Authenticity & Heart

Funke Akindele’s dramedy of five brothers who embark on robbery to save their ailing mother, thoughtfully written by Collins Okoh, proves something we already know: Nollywood is at its best when telling authentic stories — which is why this became its first film to make N1 billion.

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 26, 2024

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.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 13, 2023

How Leila Aboulela Reclaimed the Heroines of Sudan

The widest-read contemporary Sudanese writer is retrieving from history the stolen spaces of her country’s women, and bringing nuance to an image of Islam. In a time of war, her fiction expands a national consciousness.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 19, 2023

The Trade, Reviewed: Kidnappers Vs. Police

Blossom Chukwujekwu puts in an indelible layered performance as a criminal defined by a deep-seated sense of manhood.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 17, 2023

King of Thieves (Agesinkole), Reviewed—A Captivating Yoruba Historical Epic

A magnetic Femi Adebayo doubles as producer and star of this story about a kingdom caught in ancestral turmoil.

Paula Willie-Okafor

March 25, 2025

Dream Count, Reviewed: A Great Novelist’s Chronicle of Vulnerabilities

Coming 12 years after her third novel Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s vital, splintered return to longform fiction shows classes of womanhood. It demonstrates yet again her elegant, unmatched grasp of language. In some ways, it is also different from her previous novels.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 6, 2024

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

November 17, 2024

4 Films Arriving at the End of 2024

A franchise entry from Funke Akindele, another Yoruba historical feature by Femi Adebayo, a supernatural thriller starring Stan Nze, and a romantic flick with Shaffy Bello.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 19, 2024

House of Ga’a, Reviewed: The Fall of an Oyo Empire Kingmaker

Bolanle Austen-Peters’ meaty biopic and historical epic about Bashorun Ga’a succeeds in keeping audiences perched on the edge of their seats, aided by good production and Femi Branch’s charisma.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 19, 2024

This Motherless Land by Nikki May, Reviewed: A Mixed-Race Woman Seeks Belonging

Entertaining and heart-wrenching, Nikki May’s sophomore novel is most fun when she draws parallels between Nigeria and England, with punchily rendered bits of cultural insight.

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 28, 2024

A Tribe Called Judah, Reviewed: A Box Office-Breaking Heist of Authenticity & Heart

Funke Akindele’s dramedy of five brothers who embark on robbery to save their ailing mother, thoughtfully written by Collins Okoh, proves something we already know: Nollywood is at its best when telling authentic stories — which is why this became its first film to make N1 billion.

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 26, 2024

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.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 13, 2023

How Leila Aboulela Reclaimed the Heroines of Sudan

The widest-read contemporary Sudanese writer is retrieving from history the stolen spaces of her country’s women, and bringing nuance to an image of Islam. In a time of war, her fiction expands a national consciousness.

Paula Willie-Okafor