Features

March 11, 2022

Mary Watson Wins Philida Literary Award

It goes to “an oeuvre of literary excellence” in South Africa.

A Netflix Adaptation for Tola Okogwu’s YA Novel, Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

The production will be by Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon.

Doek! Partners with UEA’s International Chair of Creative Writing for Literary Festival in Namibia

The Doek! Literary Festival will take place from 21-23 April 2022.

28 Writers Go Deep into Love, in Art and Life

For Valentine’s Day, we asked 28 writers—deep readers and consumers of art—to share the literary, cinematic, musical, and life stories that affect them. They opened up beautifully.

The Methods of Damon Galgut

How the South African naturalist, a prodigy, innovated major work on masculinity, race, memory, and time—and then, at the tip of his 40-year career, came the Booker Prize.

Damon Galgut Is on the February 2022 Cover of Open Country Mag

In his 40th year as a writer, last year’s Booker Prize winner talks to Open Country Mag about his artistic process, and his novel The Promise.

Damon Galgut Is a Finalist for the 2022 Rathbones Folio Prize

The South African stylist, just announced as the February 2022 cover star of Open Country Mag, makes the shortlist with his Booker Prize-winning novel The Promise.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Wins $50,000 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature

The judges called the Kenyan author a “transformative figure in African Literature.”

Arinze Ifeakandu, Eloghosa Osunde, TJ Benson Shortlisted for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Art & Literature

The three have books forthcoming this year.

Over 100 Writers Sign Open Letter on Missing Rwandan Poet Innocent Bahati

Ben Okri, J.M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, and Michael Ondaatje are among those urging Rwandan President Paul Kagame to intervene in the case.

Leila Chatti Wins Luschei Prize for African Poetry

The Tunisian American poet was selected for the APBF prize for her collection Deluge.

PEN Prize Winner Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Brutalized Again in Uganda

He was first arrested in 2020, and last year shared his story in an interview with us. He was rearrested this new year.

Cheswayo Mphanza Shortlisted for National Book Critics Circle Awards

The Zambian poet is up for his debut collection The Rinehart Frames.

Engaging Borders Africa Announces Finalists

The 30 short stories have “the shared aim of changing the ways young people understand radicalization, violent extremism, and disinformation, which are key feeders of conflict and terror in Africa.”

Isele Magazine Launches Prizes for Contributors

The Isele Prizes are for short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Each winner will receive $200 at a ceremony in April 2022.

Bookshop.org Announces Shortlist for New Futures Programme

It includes BAME, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and visually and hearing impaired as well as mental health advocates.

Country Love Depicts Tenderness in LGBTQ+ Nigerian Life

The forthcoming short film, a love story set in Enugu State, Nigeria, is Wapah Ezeigwe’s directorial debut. “I wasn’t willing to compromise any of my artistic vision,” they said.

Lolwe Magazine Releases Issue 4

The Pan-African publication’s newest includes writing and photography. Read the editorial note by its founder Troy Onyango.

On an Eastern Nigerian Campus, a New Literary Hotspot

In Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, writers are gathering to converse and perform at Eagle Nest Book Club. “It is likely we have created something that will outstay us in this place,” said the founders.

Uzoma Ihejirika

January 7, 2022

Doek! Magazine Releases Issue 7

The Namibian magazine’s latest issue, Soon/Come, features contributors from three continents. Read the editorial note by its founder Remy Ngamije.

Doek! Magazine

March 11, 2022

Mary Watson Wins Philida Literary Award

It goes to “an oeuvre of literary excellence” in South Africa.

Paula Willie-Okafor

March 8, 2022

A Netflix Adaptation for Tola Okogwu’s YA Novel, Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

The production will be by Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

February 23, 2022

Doek! Partners with UEA’s International Chair of Creative Writing for Literary Festival in Namibia

The Doek! Literary Festival will take place from 21-23 April 2022.

Doek! Magazine

February 14, 2022

28 Writers Go Deep into Love, in Art and Life

For Valentine’s Day, we asked 28 writers—deep readers and consumers of art—to share the literary, cinematic, musical, and life stories that affect them. They opened up beautifully.

Open Country Mag

February 12, 2022

The Methods of Damon Galgut

How the South African naturalist, a prodigy, innovated major work on masculinity, race, memory, and time—and then, at the tip of his 40-year career, came the Booker Prize.

Otosirieze

February 10, 2022

Damon Galgut Is on the February 2022 Cover of Open Country Mag

In his 40th year as a writer, last year’s Booker Prize winner talks to Open Country Mag about his artistic process, and his novel The Promise.

Otosirieze

February 10, 2022

Damon Galgut Is a Finalist for the 2022 Rathbones Folio Prize

The South African stylist, just announced as the February 2022 cover star of Open Country Mag, makes the shortlist with his Booker Prize-winning novel The Promise.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

February 10, 2022

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Wins $50,000 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature

The judges called the Kenyan author a “transformative figure in African Literature.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 8, 2022

Arinze Ifeakandu, Eloghosa Osunde, TJ Benson Shortlisted for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Art & Literature

The three have books forthcoming this year.

Paula Willie-Okafor

February 7, 2022

Over 100 Writers Sign Open Letter on Missing Rwandan Poet Innocent Bahati

Ben Okri, J.M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, and Michael Ondaatje are among those urging Rwandan President Paul Kagame to intervene in the case.

Otosirieze

February 5, 2022

Leila Chatti Wins Luschei Prize for African Poetry

The Tunisian American poet was selected for the APBF prize for her collection Deluge.

Otosirieze

February 5, 2022

PEN Prize Winner Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Brutalized Again in Uganda

He was first arrested in 2020, and last year shared his story in an interview with us. He was rearrested this new year.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 27, 2022

Cheswayo Mphanza Shortlisted for National Book Critics Circle Awards

The Zambian poet is up for his debut collection The Rinehart Frames.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 27, 2022

Engaging Borders Africa Announces Finalists

Engaging Borders Africa

January 27, 2022

Isele Magazine Launches Prizes for Contributors

The Isele Prizes are for short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Each winner will receive $200 at a ceremony in April 2022.

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 21, 2022

Bookshop.org Announces Shortlist for New Futures Programme

It includes BAME, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, and visually and hearing impaired as well as mental health advocates.

Midas PR

January 18, 2022

Country Love Depicts Tenderness in LGBTQ+ Nigerian Life

The forthcoming short film, a love story set in Enugu State, Nigeria, is Wapah Ezeigwe’s directorial debut. “I wasn’t willing to compromise any of my artistic vision,” they said.