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December 9, 2024

A Small Indie Producer Bets on Social Justice Cinema

Godwin Harrison’s “advocacy-led” HUG Media Concept is “about using cinema to address issues.” His new film Ima’mi is based on his life as an Efik prince who was outed as gay.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu
Godwin Harrison (in black) on set

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
Arinze Ifeakandu for Open Country Mag

December 5, 2024

With the S16 Film Festival, an Arthouse Collective Locks Its Focus

A trio of young filmmakers banded together as the Surreal16 Collective, to resist Nollywood clichés. At their festival, Michael Omonua, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, and Abba T. Makama curate a haven for unorthodox filmmakers.
Michael Aromolaran
Rungano Nyoni's Canne selection On Becoming a Guinea Fowl will open the 2024 Surreal16 Festival.

November 25, 2024

A Navy Pilot Pivoted to Writing, Spurred by Surrealists

While flying military helicopters, Umar Abubakar Sidi wrote the two top-selling poetry books in Nigeria. Now he has a novel. One day, he will write about military life: “It is a reality I cannot escape.”
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera
Umar Abubakar Sidi's two collections were the Nos. 1 and 2 bestselling poetry books in Nigeria.

November 15, 2024

Abi Daré Claims Her Space

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice and And So I Roar on her writing process.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu
Abi Dare. Supplied.

October 14, 2024

“African writers are just not credited enough as innovators”: Otosirieze Speaks to The Republic

In his first interview in three years, the Open Country Mag editor opened up on a range of issues in African and global literature, from The New York Times’ exclusion of Africans from its “Best Books of the 21st Century” list to the need for “sustained critical thinking about the state of Nigeria and Africa.”
Ada Nnadi
Otosirieze. Illustrated by Kevwe Ogini for The Republic.

September 27, 2024

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: Luba, an Exhibition on Malawian Flora

Staged by the Malawian artist Mirriam Francesca Nkosi, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it “focused on preserving, celebrating, and documenting these native plants and the traditional knowledge associated with them.”
Otosirieze
Luba

September 20, 2024

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: One Foot in the Closet, a Podcast for Queer & Beyond-the-Binary Africans

Hosted by the East African activist Name Redacted, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, “conversations like these provide a counter-narrative to predominant Western narratives of ‘coming out.'”
Otosirieze
One Foot in the Closet, Season 2, Episode 1 cover art

August 19, 2024

Francis Cardinal Arinze Is on the August 2024 Cover of Open Country Mag

At 91, the Catholic prelate is the most accomplished living African and Black religious minister, our oldest cover star, and our first outside literature and film.
Otosirieze
Francis Cardinal Arinze Is on the August 2024 Cover of Open Country Mag

August 5, 2024

A Lack in Liberian Literature

There is no literary bookstore in Africa’s oldest modern country. But, after civil wars and an epidemic, its writers are writing, and hoping.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera
A group of Liberian writers attend a reading at the University of Liberia in 2022.

August 2, 2024

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: Among Us, Scans of Ancient Nok Art for an AR-scape

Created by the Nigerian artists Vetum Galadima and Amaka Obioma, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it “combines museum technology and art direction to create a perspective for art preservation.”
Otosirieze
Among Us: A Nok Art Augmented Reality by Amaka Obioma and Vetum Galadima

August 2, 2024

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: It’s Bloom Time, a 3-D Fashion Story Collection

Crafted by the Nigerian designer Izuchukwu Udokwu, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it weaves fashion, music, and poetry to show that “you don’t have to create physical pieces that would probably end up in the waste bin and contribute to the wastes in our environment.”
Otosirieze
It's Bloom Time: A 3-D Fashion Story by Izuchukwu Onyedibiemma Udokwu

July 26, 2024

Aiwanose Odafen’s Duology of Womanhood

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.
Iheoma Uzomba
Aiwanose Odafen for Open Country Mag

June 3, 2024

Adedayo Agarau Wins Poetic Justice Book Prize for “Achingly Personal, Coming-of-Age” Poems

The Nigerian poet and editor of Agbowo’s “searing” The Years of Blood has “vivid, unsettling imagery drawing on Yoruba cosmology and folklore.” It is forthcoming in Fall 2025.
Otosirieze
Adedayo Agarau wins Poetic Justice Book Prize

March 28, 2024

Momtaza Mehri’s Fluid Diasporas

Having traversed regions, her poetry, including the Forward Prize-winning Bad Diaspora Poems, interrogates a race- and class-conscious world — and her place in it as a Muslim Somali woman.
Iheoma Uzomba
Momtaza Mehri for Open Country Mag.

March 25, 2024

“A Richness of African Consciousness”: How a Spiritual Novel Influenced a Music Album

Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, author of The Famished Road, and Ghanaian rapper Delasi, with the EP The Audacity of Free Thought, in a deep, rare reflection on storytelling, art forms, and their quests for origins.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera
"I do not consider The Famished Road Trilogy as just books of fiction," says Delasi. Ben Okri (L) by Mat Bray. Delasi (R) by Charles Lawson.

March 6, 2024

A Poet Imagines Dreams for the Displaced

In Exodus, his debut collection, ‘Gbenga Adeoba threads the histories, migrations, and traumas of people forced to sea.
Iheoma Uzomba
Gbenga Adeoba by Timilehin Alake.

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
Tolu Obanro: Nollywood's Top Composer

February 26, 2024

Nonzo Bassey’s Songs of Heartbreak

On his debut album Diary of a Loverboy, the Nigerian singer and actor channels frustration, anger, and love.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu
Nonzo Bassey's Songs of Heartbreak

January 31, 2024

“I Used to Think Stories Only Had Artistic Value if They Were Tragic”: Feel Good Hums with Queer Joy

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.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu
Feel Good: An Anthology of Stories About Queer Joy

December 9, 2024

Godwin Harrison (in black) on set

A Small Indie Producer Bets on Social Justice Cinema

Godwin Harrison’s “advocacy-led” HUG Media Concept is “about using cinema to address issues.” His new film Ima’mi is based on his life as an Efik prince who was outed as gay.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

December 6, 2024

Arinze Ifeakandu for Open Country Mag

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

December 5, 2024

Rungano Nyoni's Canne selection On Becoming a Guinea Fowl will open the 2024 Surreal16 Festival.

With the S16 Film Festival, an Arthouse Collective Locks Its Focus

A trio of young filmmakers banded together as the Surreal16 Collective, to resist Nollywood clichés. At their festival, Michael Omonua, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, and Abba T. Makama curate a haven for unorthodox filmmakers.
Michael Aromolaran

November 25, 2024

Umar Abubakar Sidi's two collections were the Nos. 1 and 2 bestselling poetry books in Nigeria.

A Navy Pilot Pivoted to Writing, Spurred by Surrealists

While flying military helicopters, Umar Abubakar Sidi wrote the two top-selling poetry books in Nigeria. Now he has a novel. One day, he will write about military life: “It is a reality I cannot escape.”
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera

November 15, 2024

Abi Dare. Supplied.

Abi Daré Claims Her Space

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice and And So I Roar on her writing process.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

October 14, 2024

Otosirieze. Illustrated by Kevwe Ogini for The Republic.

“African writers are just not credited enough as innovators”: Otosirieze Speaks to The Republic

In his first interview in three years, the Open Country Mag editor opened up on a range of issues in African and global literature, from The New York Times’ exclusion of Africans from its “Best Books of the 21st Century” list to the need for “sustained critical thinking about the state of Nigeria and Africa.”
Ada Nnadi

September 27, 2024

Luba

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: Luba, an Exhibition on Malawian Flora

Staged by the Malawian artist Mirriam Francesca Nkosi, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it “focused on preserving, celebrating, and documenting these native plants and the traditional knowledge associated with them.”
Otosirieze

September 20, 2024

One Foot in the Closet, Season 2, Episode 1 cover art

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: One Foot in the Closet, a Podcast for Queer & Beyond-the-Binary Africans

Hosted by the East African activist Name Redacted, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, “conversations like these provide a counter-narrative to predominant Western narratives of ‘coming out.'”
Otosirieze

August 19, 2024

Francis Cardinal Arinze Is on the August 2024 Cover of Open Country Mag

Francis Cardinal Arinze Is on the August 2024 Cover of Open Country Mag

At 91, the Catholic prelate is the most accomplished living African and Black religious minister, our oldest cover star, and our first outside literature and film.
Otosirieze

August 5, 2024

A group of Liberian writers attend a reading at the University of Liberia in 2022.

A Lack in Liberian Literature

There is no literary bookstore in Africa’s oldest modern country. But, after civil wars and an epidemic, its writers are writing, and hoping.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera

August 2, 2024

Among Us: A Nok Art Augmented Reality by Amaka Obioma and Vetum Galadima

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: Among Us, Scans of Ancient Nok Art for an AR-scape

Created by the Nigerian artists Vetum Galadima and Amaka Obioma, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it “combines museum technology and art direction to create a perspective for art preservation.”
Otosirieze

August 2, 2024

It's Bloom Time: A 3-D Fashion Story by Izuchukwu Onyedibiemma Udokwu

The OCM Curatorial Fellowship Presents: It’s Bloom Time, a 3-D Fashion Story Collection

Crafted by the Nigerian designer Izuchukwu Udokwu, with sponsorship by Africa No Filter, it weaves fashion, music, and poetry to show that “you don’t have to create physical pieces that would probably end up in the waste bin and contribute to the wastes in our environment.”
Otosirieze

July 26, 2024

Aiwanose Odafen for Open Country Mag

Aiwanose Odafen’s Duology of Womanhood

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.
Iheoma Uzomba

June 3, 2024

Adedayo Agarau wins Poetic Justice Book Prize

Adedayo Agarau Wins Poetic Justice Book Prize for “Achingly Personal, Coming-of-Age” Poems

The Nigerian poet and editor of Agbowo’s “searing” The Years of Blood has “vivid, unsettling imagery drawing on Yoruba cosmology and folklore.” It is forthcoming in Fall 2025.
Otosirieze

March 28, 2024

Momtaza Mehri for Open Country Mag.

Momtaza Mehri’s Fluid Diasporas

Having traversed regions, her poetry, including the Forward Prize-winning Bad Diaspora Poems, interrogates a race- and class-conscious world — and her place in it as a Muslim Somali woman.
Iheoma Uzomba

March 25, 2024

"I do not consider The Famished Road Trilogy as just books of fiction," says Delasi. Ben Okri (L) by Mat Bray. Delasi (R) by Charles Lawson.

“A Richness of African Consciousness”: How a Spiritual Novel Influenced a Music Album

Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, author of The Famished Road, and Ghanaian rapper Delasi, with the EP The Audacity of Free Thought, in a deep, rare reflection on storytelling, art forms, and their quests for origins.
Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera

March 6, 2024

Gbenga Adeoba by Timilehin Alake.

A Poet Imagines Dreams for the Displaced

In Exodus, his debut collection, ‘Gbenga Adeoba threads the histories, migrations, and traumas of people forced to sea.
Iheoma Uzomba

February 26, 2024

Tolu Obanro: Nollywood's Top Composer

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

February 26, 2024

Nonzo Bassey's Songs of Heartbreak

Nonzo Bassey’s Songs of Heartbreak

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

January 31, 2024

Feel Good: An Anthology of Stories About Queer Joy

“I Used to Think Stories Only Had Artistic Value if They Were Tragic”: Feel Good Hums with Queer Joy

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.
Orji Victor Ebubechukwu

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