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

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

July 25, 2023

Arinze Ifeakandu Signs US and UK Deals for Debut Novel Say You’re Here (Exclusive)

The manuscript in progress has been acquired by Scribner in the US and W&N in the UK.

Paula Willie-Okafor

June 8, 2023

Gangs of Lagos, Reviewed: A Crime Thriller with Big Ambition

In Prime Video’s first Africa Original, Jade Osiberu takes on forceful, compelling ideas to varying results, but most of the cast shine, especially the singer Chike.

Paula Willie-Okafor

June 8, 2023

Brotherhood, Reviewed: A Policeman and a Robber

Aided by Tobi Bakre’s AMVCA Best Drama Actor-winning turn, director Loukman Ali and producer Jade Osiberu’s shot at telling a memorable story prioritizes spectacle over relationships.

Paula Willie-Okafor

June 2, 2023

Ama Ata Aidoo, Literary Pioneer and Feminist Icon, Passes on at 81

As the first published African female playwright and Ghana’s former Minister of Education, the author of No Sweetness Here and Our Sister Killjoy was admired by Chimamanda Adichie, Tsitsi Dangarembga, and popstar Burna Boy. “The decay of Africa’s social, political, and economic systems is directly related to the complete marginalization of women,” she once said.

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

July 25, 2023

Arinze Ifeakandu Signs US and UK Deals for Debut Novel Say You’re Here (Exclusive)

The manuscript in progress has been acquired by Scribner in the US and W&N in the UK.

Paula Willie-Okafor

June 8, 2023

Gangs of Lagos, Reviewed: A Crime Thriller with Big Ambition

In Prime Video’s first Africa Original, Jade Osiberu takes on forceful, compelling ideas to varying results, but most of the cast shine, especially the singer Chike.

Paula Willie-Okafor