Subscribe

Features

April 2, 2021

The Making of Songs We Learn from Trees, the First Anthology of Amharic Poetry in English

How Chris Beckett and Alemu Tebeje filled a gap in Ethiopian literature.
Uzoma Ihejirika
Songs We Learn from Trees. From Carcanet Press.

March 31, 2021

Eight Poets Up for 2021 Brunel Prize

“Many of these poets are young, in their 20s, and their voices are fresh, articulate, compelling,” the judges say.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Arao Ameny by Arao Ameny.

March 31, 2021

Ngugi’s The Perfect Nine Is the First Book in an African Language to Make International Booker Shortlist

The revered Kenyan, who writes in Gikuyu, is also the prize’s first nominee as both author and translator of the same book.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Ngugi wa Thiong'o by Steve Zylius/UCI.

March 27, 2021

Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian Novelist and Feminist Icon, Passes on at 89

She was known for her assertive views on politics and women’s rights, which put her at risk. “Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies,” she wrote after release from prison.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Nawal El Saadawi. Photo: David Degner/Getty Images. From the Guardian.

March 19, 2021

Mark Gevisser’s Long Mission of Queer Visibility

In his most recent book, The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers, the South African journalist and activist shows a world in redescription. And he has been doing that for decades, engaging power and who wields it and who is abused by it.
Otosirieze
Mark Gevisser (R) and Tiwonge "Aunty" Chimbalanga (L) at the Khlulisa Community Garden, where she works. Credit: Ellen Elmendorp.

March 16, 2021

Groundbreaking Nebula Awards Shortlists Include 3 Africans

With his story in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki becomes the first Africa-based writer to be shortlisted. “It’s something you never realised that it’s possible,” he said.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

March 15, 2021

Romeo Oriogun & Sulaiman Addonia Shortlisted for 2021 Lambda Awards

The Nigerian poet’s Sacrament of Bodies is nominated in the Gay Poetry category, & the Eritrean-Ethiopian novelist’s Silence Is My Mother Tongue is in Bisexual Fiction.
Otosirieze
Romeo Oriogun by Romeo Oriogun.

March 13, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga on Why Young Africans Need Allies

“Because they haven’t been constrained by the world, their imagination is much more agile,” said the Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist, who was on the December 2020 cover of Open Country Mag.
Ada Nnadi
Tsitsi Dangarembga. From Tsitsi Dangarembga.

March 12, 2021

Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom Longlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction

“[It] had me in tears, wailing, the most emotional I’ve felt after reading a book, for a long, long time,” said one of the judges.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom by Books Upstairs.

March 9, 2021

Sefi Atta’s Swallow Is Being Adapted for Netflix by Kunle Afolayan, with Niyola as Lead

It will be the first screenwriting credit for the Nigerian novelist, who co-wrote with Afolayan.
Otosirieze
Sefi Atta. From Sefi Atta's Facebook page.

March 5, 2021

The Afritondo Short Story Prize Shortlist

“This year’s short story prize was centred on Identity,” the organisers said. “The judges selected stories that were original, well crafted, and reflected the theme of the prize.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Yellow Means Stay, the Afritondo Prize 2020 anthology.

March 5, 2021

Rasaq Malik Gbolahan & Funmi Gaji on Their New Poetry Books from Konya Shamsrumi

Gbolahan’s The Other Names of Grief, which “shows us the way to survival,” and Gaji’s The Script of Bruises, about “space and belonging,” are now available in Nigeria.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Rasaq Malik Gbolahan's The Other Names of Grief; from Konya Shamsrumi.

February 22, 2021

“The World Is Paying Attention”: 6 African Writers on BSFA Awards Shortlist

Two of the finalists appear in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, co-edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

February 17, 2021

Arao Ameny Wins Southern Review’s James Olney Award

The Ugandan writer receives $500 for her first published poem “highlighting the importance of foremothers and women’s land rights in Uganda.”
Paula Willie-Okafor
Arao Ameny by Arao Ameny.

February 9, 2021

Yaa Gyasi Longlisted for PEN/Faulkner Award

The Ghanaian novelist is nominated for her second novel Transcendent Kingdom.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom by Books Upstairs.

February 5, 2021

How Lanaire Aderemi Adapted Women’s Resistance into Art

Inspired by anticolonialist feminist movements, the Nigerian performer set out to honour them in community-centered theatre. Her latest show is Story Story.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Lanaire Aderemi.

February 5, 2021

Hannah Chukwu’s Call to Help Uplift Unheard Voices

How Hamish Hamilton’s 24-year-old Nigerian British talent went from a historic heading of an Oxford college to editing Booker Prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and Marlon James, to broadening her diversity advocacy.
Otosirieze
Hannah Chukwu.

February 4, 2021

UN to Launch African SDGs Book Club with 6 Literary Partners

Interested writers, publishers, and readers with books for children aged 6-12, that fit any of the 17 SDGs, are encouraged to apply.
Uzoma Ihejirika
@alyssasieb on Nappy.co.

February 4, 2021

Ben Okri Says His New Yorker Short Story Was “Hijacked by History”

The Nigerian Booker Prize winner discussed the ideas of perception and illusion in “A Wrinkle in the Realm,” and how it connects to his story collection Prayer for the Living.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Ben Okri by Georgina Chapel Associates via Tank Magazine.

January 26, 2021

Namwali Serpell & Wayétu Moore Up for 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards

. . . for the essay collection Stranger Faces and the memoir The Dragons, The Giant, The Women, respectively.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Namwali Serpell by Peg Skorpinski.

April 2, 2021

Songs We Learn from Trees. From Carcanet Press.

The Making of Songs We Learn from Trees, the First Anthology of Amharic Poetry in English

How Chris Beckett and Alemu Tebeje filled a gap in Ethiopian literature.
Uzoma Ihejirika

March 31, 2021

Arao Ameny by Arao Ameny.

Eight Poets Up for 2021 Brunel Prize

“Many of these poets are young, in their 20s, and their voices are fresh, articulate, compelling,” the judges say.
Paula Willie-Okafor

March 31, 2021

Ngugi wa Thiong'o by Steve Zylius/UCI.

Ngugi’s The Perfect Nine Is the First Book in an African Language to Make International Booker Shortlist

The revered Kenyan, who writes in Gikuyu, is also the prize’s first nominee as both author and translator of the same book.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

March 27, 2021

Nawal El Saadawi. Photo: David Degner/Getty Images. From the Guardian.

Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian Novelist and Feminist Icon, Passes on at 89

She was known for her assertive views on politics and women’s rights, which put her at risk. “Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies,” she wrote after release from prison.
Paula Willie-Okafor

March 19, 2021

Mark Gevisser (R) and Tiwonge "Aunty" Chimbalanga (L) at the Khlulisa Community Garden, where she works. Credit: Ellen Elmendorp.

Mark Gevisser’s Long Mission of Queer Visibility

In his most recent book, The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers, the South African journalist and activist shows a world in redescription. And he has been doing that for decades, engaging power and who wields it and who is abused by it.
Otosirieze

March 16, 2021

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

Groundbreaking Nebula Awards Shortlists Include 3 Africans

With his story in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki becomes the first Africa-based writer to be shortlisted. “It’s something you never realised that it’s possible,” he said.
Ernest Ogunyemi

March 15, 2021

Romeo Oriogun by Romeo Oriogun.

Romeo Oriogun & Sulaiman Addonia Shortlisted for 2021 Lambda Awards

The Nigerian poet’s Sacrament of Bodies is nominated in the Gay Poetry category, & the Eritrean-Ethiopian novelist’s Silence Is My Mother Tongue is in Bisexual Fiction.
Otosirieze

March 13, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga. From Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Tsitsi Dangarembga on Why Young Africans Need Allies

“Because they haven’t been constrained by the world, their imagination is much more agile,” said the Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist, who was on the December 2020 cover of Open Country Mag.
Ada Nnadi

March 12, 2021

Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom by Books Upstairs.

Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom Longlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction

“[It] had me in tears, wailing, the most emotional I’ve felt after reading a book, for a long, long time,” said one of the judges.
Ernest Ogunyemi

March 9, 2021

Sefi Atta. From Sefi Atta's Facebook page.

Sefi Atta’s Swallow Is Being Adapted for Netflix by Kunle Afolayan, with Niyola as Lead

It will be the first screenwriting credit for the Nigerian novelist, who co-wrote with Afolayan.
Otosirieze

March 5, 2021

Yellow Means Stay, the Afritondo Prize 2020 anthology.

The Afritondo Short Story Prize Shortlist

“This year’s short story prize was centred on Identity,” the organisers said. “The judges selected stories that were original, well crafted, and reflected the theme of the prize.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu

March 5, 2021

Rasaq Malik Gbolahan's The Other Names of Grief; from Konya Shamsrumi.

Rasaq Malik Gbolahan & Funmi Gaji on Their New Poetry Books from Konya Shamsrumi

Gbolahan’s The Other Names of Grief, which “shows us the way to survival,” and Gaji’s The Script of Bruises, about “space and belonging,” are now available in Nigeria.
Ernest Ogunyemi

February 22, 2021

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

“The World Is Paying Attention”: 6 African Writers on BSFA Awards Shortlist

Two of the finalists appear in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, co-edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki.
Ernest Ogunyemi

February 17, 2021

Arao Ameny by Arao Ameny.

Arao Ameny Wins Southern Review’s James Olney Award

The Ugandan writer receives $500 for her first published poem “highlighting the importance of foremothers and women’s land rights in Uganda.”
Paula Willie-Okafor

February 9, 2021

Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom by Books Upstairs.

Yaa Gyasi Longlisted for PEN/Faulkner Award

The Ghanaian novelist is nominated for her second novel Transcendent Kingdom.
Ernest Ogunyemi

February 5, 2021

Lanaire Aderemi.

How Lanaire Aderemi Adapted Women’s Resistance into Art

Inspired by anticolonialist feminist movements, the Nigerian performer set out to honour them in community-centered theatre. Her latest show is Story Story.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

February 5, 2021

Hannah Chukwu.

Hannah Chukwu’s Call to Help Uplift Unheard Voices

How Hamish Hamilton’s 24-year-old Nigerian British talent went from a historic heading of an Oxford college to editing Booker Prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and Marlon James, to broadening her diversity advocacy.
Otosirieze

February 4, 2021

@alyssasieb on Nappy.co.

UN to Launch African SDGs Book Club with 6 Literary Partners

Interested writers, publishers, and readers with books for children aged 6-12, that fit any of the 17 SDGs, are encouraged to apply.
Uzoma Ihejirika

February 4, 2021

Ben Okri by Georgina Chapel Associates via Tank Magazine.

Ben Okri Says His New Yorker Short Story Was “Hijacked by History”

The Nigerian Booker Prize winner discussed the ideas of perception and illusion in “A Wrinkle in the Realm,” and how it connects to his story collection Prayer for the Living.
Paula Willie-Okafor

January 26, 2021

Namwali Serpell by Peg Skorpinski.

Namwali Serpell & Wayétu Moore Up for 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards

. . . for the essay collection Stranger Faces and the memoir The Dragons, The Giant, The Women, respectively.
Ernest Ogunyemi

“An ambitious new magazine committed to African literature”

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Join 25,000+ subscribers to essential, in-depth stories in African literature, Nigerian film, & culture: inspiring Profiles, incisive reviews, thought-provoking features & conversations that happen nowhere else. It's premium access to the visions of changemakers, from icons to emerging voices. Plus key industry stories from Folio Nigeria by CNN.

We respect your privacy and will never send you Spam or sell your email.

NO, I DON'T CARE ABOUT AFRICAN WHATEVER.

Top