Nigeria

For the Nigerian novelist, women’s lives are the plot. With Tomorrow I Become a Woman and We Were Girls Once, the first two books in a planned cross-generational trilogy, she takes us into the burdens of marriage, motherhood, ethnicity, and class.

Centred on his former Ibadan residence, family memories of a young militant Wole Soyinka casts strange light on his increasingly contentious legacy as an activist.

Reflections on identity and expression in patriarchal Nigeria.

The 100 bestselling books of 2023 in Nigeria: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, self-published, and children’s books.

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.

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.

On his debut album Diary of a Loverboy, the Nigerian singer and actor channels frustration, anger, and love.

In a storied year for Nigerian cinema, our inaugural list prioritizes the realization of narrative, and these features stand out.

Editors Daniel Orubo and OluTimehin Kukoyi, and contributors Olakunle Ologunro, Innocent Ilo, Edwin Okolo, Fareeda Abdulkareem, and Ani Kayode, on the freedoms and radicality of fictionalizing happiness for LGBTQ+ Nigerians.

Producer and star Femi Adebayo’s Yoruba-language saga of the clash of two great warriors is a feat of indigenous storytelling and a thoughtful class commentary.

In a year of ensembles, in which it fell on collective performances to elevate stories, these actors stood out — among the films and TV series we saw.

In five years, Chess in Slums Africa brought hope to thousands of children and became a charity phenomenon. But to get there, its founder Tunde Onakoya had to survive terrors: “It’s the kind of things that you see in movies, and you’re, like, ‘This is really bad,’ but then you’re seeing it, the real consequences of poverty.”

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.

Director, producer, and screenplay writer Ebuka Njoku and producer Lorenzo Menakaya on their professional journeys and the making of their Netflix No. 1 hit.

The clashes are instant in this interesting, fashionable take on Africa’s largest city, yet the show’s Season 1 is unable to stamp its own identity or manufacture original conflicts.

As warring sister chefs, Funke Akindele and Mercy Johnson, aided by a tight script, torch each other in an entertaining, and ultimately touching, tale that became Nollywood’s highest-grossing film of all-time.

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