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

August 18, 2026

The Sabi Prize, for Secondary School Students in Nigeria, Announces Inaugural Winners

Founded by Chukwuka Odigbo and Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam, and judged by Adachioma Ezeano and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, the ₦2.95 million ($2,165) Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing “hopes to inspire young Nigerians everywhere.” Open Country Mag has published the winning essays.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 18, 2026

OCM Presents: Essays from The Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing

Up to 220 Nigerian senior secondary school students entered for the inaugural Sabi Prize, worth ₦2.95 million ($2,165). Their task? To analyze a chapter from Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. Read the top three essays, judged by Adachioma Ezeano, winner of the O. Henry Prize, and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, author of The Tiny Things are Heavier.

Paula Willie-Okafor

November 3, 2025

In Great Grief, Mubanga Kalimamukwento Saw Her Country

As a child, no one told the writer and attorney how her family died. She has since compressed her resilience into acclaimed novels, nonfiction, poetry, and Ubwali, a magazine shaping Zambian literature.

Paula Willie-Okafor

October 10, 2025

Leila Aboulela Receives 2025 PEN Pinter Prize, Names Stella Gaitano as International Writer of Courage

The Sudanese novelist won for producing “extraordinary” work that is “a balm, a shelter, and an inspiration.” She chose South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano for being “a principled writer and a fearless activist.”

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

August 18, 2026

The Sabi Prize, for Secondary School Students in Nigeria, Announces Inaugural Winners

Founded by Chukwuka Odigbo and Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam, and judged by Adachioma Ezeano and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, the ₦2.95 million ($2,165) Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing “hopes to inspire young Nigerians everywhere.” Open Country Mag has published the winning essays.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 18, 2026

OCM Presents: Essays from The Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing

Up to 220 Nigerian senior secondary school students entered for the inaugural Sabi Prize, worth ₦2.95 million ($2,165). Their task? To analyze a chapter from Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. Read the top three essays, judged by Adachioma Ezeano, winner of the O. Henry Prize, and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, author of The Tiny Things are Heavier.

Paula Willie-Okafor

November 3, 2025

In Great Grief, Mubanga Kalimamukwento Saw Her Country

As a child, no one told the writer and attorney how her family died. She has since compressed her resilience into acclaimed novels, nonfiction, poetry, and Ubwali, a magazine shaping Zambian literature.

Paula Willie-Okafor

October 10, 2025

Leila Aboulela Receives 2025 PEN Pinter Prize, Names Stella Gaitano as International Writer of Courage

The Sudanese novelist won for producing “extraordinary” work that is “a balm, a shelter, and an inspiration.” She chose South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano for being “a principled writer and a fearless activist.”

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