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September 13, 2021

Inside Agbowó, a Nigerian Literary and Arts Hub

With a literary magazine, an events platform ArtsnChill, and a new online publishing arm, an arts organisation, Agbowó, continues “to hold a space where it is unnecessary to be someone else.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu
At an ArtsnChill event, organized by Agbowo, where the poet Dami Ajayi read. Credit: ArtsnChill.

September 6, 2021

A Novelist Entered Literary Curation, Still Honouring Her Feminist Roots

Ukamaka Olisakwe’s novels, including the latest Ogadinma, narrate womanhood in Nigeria. Last year, she started a magazine, Isele, named after her artist grandmother.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Ukamaka Olisakwe. Credit: Ukamaka Olisakwe.

September 4, 2021

Of This Our Country Audiobook to Be Narrated by Weruche Opia and Oseloka Obi

The two actors of Nigerian descent will narrate HarperCollins’ and The Borough Press’ forthcoming collection of essays by Nigerian writers.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Some writers featured in Of This Our Country.

August 28, 2021

The Quramo Festival of Words 2021 Coming in October

The third edition, themed “Transcendence: Words Defying,” will look at how artists explore issues around the pandemic and cope with its harsh impact on the creative industry.
Quramo Publishing
A cross section of the audience at the Quramo Festival of Words 2019. Credit: Quramo.

August 27, 2021

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike’s Double Wahala, Double Trouble Collects Stories of Grisly Love and Life

“Perhaps, all I have tried doing in the collection is to track our proclivities for love and hate, intimacy and violence, solidarity and treachery,” the writer and academic said.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Double Wahala, Double Trouble by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike

August 24, 2021

Eloghosa Osunde’s Debut Novel, Vagabonds!, Follows a Host of Lagos “Outlaws”

The forthcoming book “traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance,” who “are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city’s dark energy.”
Paula Willie-Okafor
Vagabonds by Eloghosa Osunde.

August 19, 2021

Abuja Literary and Arts Festival 2021 Set for September

Now in its fourth year, ALitFest has become a landmark of Abuja’s cultural scene. The theme this year is “Making Art Work.”
Abuja Literary and Arts Festival
Abuja Literary Festival 2019. From alitfest.com

August 18, 2021

Submissions Open for 2021 SprinNG Women Authors Prize

The award for female Nigerian authors “invests N200,000 in purchasing, distributing, and marketing print copies of their books.”
SprinNG
Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia. Credit: SprinNG.

August 11, 2021

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Son of the Storm Is an Epic West African Tale of Magic & Caste

The novel—the first in his epic fantasy trilogy, Nameless Republic, based on 15th century West African empires—has been called “rich, wild, and occasionally dizzying.”
Ernest Ogunyemi
Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Son of the Storm. Credit: Tor.com.

July 30, 2021

“Sankofa”

The third novel from the Nigerian sees a woman search for her father: “The man in the picture was the darkest tint in the human spectrum.”
Chibundu Onuzo
Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa.

July 28, 2021

Nigerian Editions of Books by Chimamanda Adichie, Veronique Tadjo, & Chibundu Onuzo Set for August 2021

Narrative Landscape Press
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Credit: Narrative Landscape Press.

July 15, 2021

52 Books in 64 Years: Your Guide to Wole Soyinka’s Body of Work

“Only one universal ideology answers human cruelties, the excesses of power, bigotries, social inequalities and alienation: Literature,” wrote Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature, who turned 87 this week.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Wole Soyinka. Credit: University of Oxford.

July 14, 2021

“Information Blackout”: Nigerian Newspapers Protest Censorship with Front Page

The action, by papers including The Nation, Punch, Vanguard, Daily Sun, Nigerian Tribune, ThisDay, and The Guardian, is in response to National Assembly bills meant to stifle press freedom.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
"Information Blackout": Nigerian newspapers stage collective protest.

July 8, 2021

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Shortlisted for Theodore Sturgeon Award 2021

The Nigeria-based writer and editor is shortlisted for his story “Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon,” which has been recognized by a slew of international science fiction awards in the U.S. and the U.K.
Ernest Ogunyemi
OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI.

July 4, 2021

The Worldly Ways of Teju Cole

The great writer, street photographer, and art historian’s enquiries lured him onto a solo path in contemporary literature—a completely new terrain for an African writer. Ten years after his debut novel, Open City, he still seeks artistic freedom.
Otosirieze
TEJU COLE. PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN LENGEMANN.

July 2, 2021

Teju Cole Is on the July 2021 Cover of Open Country Mag

In the first longform profile of him in an online African publication, we follow the great writer’s reinventive journey in fiction, nonfiction, and photography, to mark the 10th anniversary of his debut novel Open City.
Otosirieze
Open Country Mag Reissues Cover of Teju Cole

July 2, 2021

Chudor House Options Movie Rights to Uduak Akpabio Umoren & Akbar Hussain Novels

In Umoren’s Impostor Alert!, two women meet on a bus heading for Lagos. In Hussain’s forthcoming Truth is a Flightless Bird, two halves of Nairobi fight for superiority.
Narrative Landscape Press
Akbar (Aki) Hussain. Credit: Narrative Landscape Press.

June 25, 2021

Revel, Again, in the Beautiful Absurd

On how to joyfully read, and love, a poem: “If you are one of those who don’t get poetry, I have a song for you.”
Ernest Ogunyemi
Chapbooks from African Poetry Book Fund's box set Nne. Credit: Kimberly Ann Southwick. From blog.pshares.org.

June 22, 2021

Ato Essandoh Performs Young Nigerian Writer’s Sci-Fi Story for Charity

Solomon Uhiara’s “The Extermination Device of the Blacksmith” connects “our ancient technological practices with modern advancements.” Hearing the Django Unchained actor’s audio performance is “thrilling,” he said.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Solomon Uhiara, a young Nigeria-based writer, has his short story performed by Ato Essandoh.

June 21, 2021

Nkemdiche, a Children’s Book of Folklore, Shows the Igbo Worldview in Hair and Beauty Politics

Obi Nwazota’s book, subtitled Why We Do Not Grow Beards, illustrates “an art of female beautification.”
Ọkpara House
Nkemdiche: Why We Do Not Grow Beards.

September 13, 2021

At an ArtsnChill event, organized by Agbowo, where the poet Dami Ajayi read. Credit: ArtsnChill.

Inside Agbowó, a Nigerian Literary and Arts Hub

With a literary magazine, an events platform ArtsnChill, and a new online publishing arm, an arts organisation, Agbowó, continues “to hold a space where it is unnecessary to be someone else.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu

September 6, 2021

Ukamaka Olisakwe. Credit: Ukamaka Olisakwe.

A Novelist Entered Literary Curation, Still Honouring Her Feminist Roots

Ukamaka Olisakwe’s novels, including the latest Ogadinma, narrate womanhood in Nigeria. Last year, she started a magazine, Isele, named after her artist grandmother.
Paula Willie-Okafor

September 4, 2021

Some writers featured in Of This Our Country.

Of This Our Country Audiobook to Be Narrated by Weruche Opia and Oseloka Obi

The two actors of Nigerian descent will narrate HarperCollins’ and The Borough Press’ forthcoming collection of essays by Nigerian writers.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

August 28, 2021

A cross section of the audience at the Quramo Festival of Words 2019. Credit: Quramo.

The Quramo Festival of Words 2021 Coming in October

The third edition, themed “Transcendence: Words Defying,” will look at how artists explore issues around the pandemic and cope with its harsh impact on the creative industry.
Quramo Publishing

August 27, 2021

Double Wahala, Double Trouble by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike’s Double Wahala, Double Trouble Collects Stories of Grisly Love and Life

“Perhaps, all I have tried doing in the collection is to track our proclivities for love and hate, intimacy and violence, solidarity and treachery,” the writer and academic said.
Paula Willie-Okafor

August 24, 2021

Vagabonds by Eloghosa Osunde.

Eloghosa Osunde’s Debut Novel, Vagabonds!, Follows a Host of Lagos “Outlaws”

The forthcoming book “traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance,” who “are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city’s dark energy.”
Paula Willie-Okafor

August 19, 2021

Abuja Literary Festival 2019. From alitfest.com

Abuja Literary and Arts Festival 2021 Set for September

Now in its fourth year, ALitFest has become a landmark of Abuja’s cultural scene. The theme this year is “Making Art Work.”
Abuja Literary and Arts Festival

August 18, 2021

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia. Credit: SprinNG.

Submissions Open for 2021 SprinNG Women Authors Prize

The award for female Nigerian authors “invests N200,000 in purchasing, distributing, and marketing print copies of their books.”
SprinNG

August 11, 2021

Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Son of the Storm. Credit: Tor.com.

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Son of the Storm Is an Epic West African Tale of Magic & Caste

The novel—the first in his epic fantasy trilogy, Nameless Republic, based on 15th century West African empires—has been called “rich, wild, and occasionally dizzying.”
Ernest Ogunyemi

July 30, 2021

Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa.

“Sankofa”

The third novel from the Nigerian sees a woman search for her father: “The man in the picture was the darkest tint in the human spectrum.”
Chibundu Onuzo

July 28, 2021

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Credit: Narrative Landscape Press.

Nigerian Editions of Books by Chimamanda Adichie, Veronique Tadjo, & Chibundu Onuzo Set for August 2021

Narrative Landscape Press

July 15, 2021

Wole Soyinka. Credit: University of Oxford.

52 Books in 64 Years: Your Guide to Wole Soyinka’s Body of Work

“Only one universal ideology answers human cruelties, the excesses of power, bigotries, social inequalities and alienation: Literature,” wrote Africa’s first Nobel laureate in literature, who turned 87 this week.
Ernest Ogunyemi

July 14, 2021

"Information Blackout": Nigerian newspapers stage collective protest.

“Information Blackout”: Nigerian Newspapers Protest Censorship with Front Page

The action, by papers including The Nation, Punch, Vanguard, Daily Sun, Nigerian Tribune, ThisDay, and The Guardian, is in response to National Assembly bills meant to stifle press freedom.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

July 8, 2021

OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI.

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Shortlisted for Theodore Sturgeon Award 2021

The Nigeria-based writer and editor is shortlisted for his story “Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon,” which has been recognized by a slew of international science fiction awards in the U.S. and the U.K.
Ernest Ogunyemi

July 4, 2021

TEJU COLE. PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN LENGEMANN.

The Worldly Ways of Teju Cole

The great writer, street photographer, and art historian’s enquiries lured him onto a solo path in contemporary literature—a completely new terrain for an African writer. Ten years after his debut novel, Open City, he still seeks artistic freedom.
Otosirieze

July 2, 2021

Open Country Mag Reissues Cover of Teju Cole

Teju Cole Is on the July 2021 Cover of Open Country Mag

In the first longform profile of him in an online African publication, we follow the great writer’s reinventive journey in fiction, nonfiction, and photography, to mark the 10th anniversary of his debut novel Open City.
Otosirieze

July 2, 2021

Akbar (Aki) Hussain. Credit: Narrative Landscape Press.

Chudor House Options Movie Rights to Uduak Akpabio Umoren & Akbar Hussain Novels

In Umoren’s Impostor Alert!, two women meet on a bus heading for Lagos. In Hussain’s forthcoming Truth is a Flightless Bird, two halves of Nairobi fight for superiority.
Narrative Landscape Press

June 25, 2021

Chapbooks from African Poetry Book Fund's box set Nne. Credit: Kimberly Ann Southwick. From blog.pshares.org.

Revel, Again, in the Beautiful Absurd

On how to joyfully read, and love, a poem: “If you are one of those who don’t get poetry, I have a song for you.”
Ernest Ogunyemi

June 22, 2021

Solomon Uhiara, a young Nigeria-based writer, has his short story performed by Ato Essandoh.

Ato Essandoh Performs Young Nigerian Writer’s Sci-Fi Story for Charity

Solomon Uhiara’s “The Extermination Device of the Blacksmith” connects “our ancient technological practices with modern advancements.” Hearing the Django Unchained actor’s audio performance is “thrilling,” he said.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

June 21, 2021

Nkemdiche: Why We Do Not Grow Beards.

Nkemdiche, a Children’s Book of Folklore, Shows the Igbo Worldview in Hair and Beauty Politics

Obi Nwazota’s book, subtitled Why We Do Not Grow Beards, illustrates “an art of female beautification.”
Ọkpara House

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— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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