Features

January 6, 2022

Anietie Isong’s Radio Sunrise Set for Film Adaptation

The production of the novel, which is about brown envelope journalism, is led by two Nollywood companies, Royal Arts Academy and Closer Pictures.

Inside Chinese Publishers’ Growing Interest in African Literature

Since the 1980s, 106 African authors and 269 titles have been translated into the Chinese. Here, an insider provides an overview of the last two years, and a preview of 2022.

Chibụìhè Obi Achịmbá Wins Frontier Poetry’s Award for New Poets

“Part of the reality of being an international student is that one is always nearly broke,” the Nigerian writer said of the $3,000 award.

The Nommo Awards, for African Speculative Fiction, Announces 2021 Winners

Novelist Akwaeke Emezi and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki are among this year’s honorees of the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS).

Brunel Prize to Be Renamed Evaristo Prize, as APBF Takes Over

After 10 years running it, Bernardine Evaristo steps down. “Having this prize named after her honors her, but more than that, it honors the prize,” said APBF founder Kwame Dawes.

Ukamaka Olisakwe Wins 2021 SprinNG Women Authors Prize

The novelist and Isele editor’s second novel, Ogadinma, Or: Everything Will Be Alright, will receive marketing worth N200,000.

Shugri Said Salh on Writing Her Life in the Somali Desert

The debut author and nurse on her new memoir The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert, the multiplicity of life, and the potential of stories.

Panels, Performances, and a Million-Naira Slam: At the Lagos Poetry Festival 2021

A recap, with photos, of the four-day Lagos International Poetry Festival 2021, staging a comeback post-pandemic lockdown.

Bernardine Evaristo Named President of Royal Society of Literature

The Booker Prize winner will be the second woman to hold the position. She is “one of literature’s most passionate and effective advocates,” said retiring president Marina Warner.

The K & L Prize, for U-25 Writers, Goes to NYSC Member

Mustapha Enesi, a recent graduate and National Youth Service corps member, won for his short story “Kesandu.” The $1,000 prize was this year themed “Madness.”

The Winners of the Bank Windhoek Doek Awards for Namibian Literature

Judges for the biennial awards selected Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo in fiction, Pauline Buhle Ndhlovu in poetry, Natasha Uys in nonfiction, and Namafu Amutse in visual art.

From Nigeria to Canada, an Indie Publisher’s Steps

With a planned bookstore in North America, Griots Lounge Publishing is “trying to represent unheard voices,” says founder Bibi Ukonu.

Paulina Chiziane Is First Black African Woman to Win Camões Award

The Mozambican author, now retired, takes the €100,000 Lusophone literary honour for her body of work.

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr Wins the Prix Goncourt, for The Most Secret Memory of Men

The Senegalese novelist becomes the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to get France’s most prestigious literary prize—exactly 100 years after its first Black winner.

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia Awarded 2021 Nigeria Prize for Literature

The academic won the $100,000 for her debut novel The Son of the House. Peter Uche Umezurike won the N1,000,000 literary criticism prize.

Damon Galgut Takes Booker Prize for The Promise

The South African stylist, the fifth African to win, had previously been shortlisted twice. The judges called his winning ninth novel “a strong, unambiguous commentary on the history of South Africa and of humanity itself.”

Otosirieze

October 27, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga Wins German Peace Prize 2021

The Zimbabwean author and filmmaker is the first Black woman to receive the €25,000 award from the German Book Trade Association.

Uzoma Ihejirika

October 26, 2021

Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija on Being Jailed and Tortured in Uganda

PEN’s 2021 International Writer of Courage shares his story with Open Country Mag.

Otosirieze

October 26, 2021

Visual Artist Osinachi on NFTs, Afrobeats, and Crypto Literature

Africa’s leading crypto artist, who started as a writer, on his two-dimensional collaboration with music producer Don Jazzy, and the potential for literature.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 11, 2021

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Is PEN’s International Writer of Courage 2021

The Ugandan novelist, jailed and tortured last year, was chosen, as is tradition, by the PEN Pinter prize winner, who this year is Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Otosirieze

January 6, 2022

Anietie Isong’s Radio Sunrise Set for Film Adaptation

The production of the novel, which is about brown envelope journalism, is led by two Nollywood companies, Royal Arts Academy and Closer Pictures.

Open Country Mag

January 4, 2022

Inside Chinese Publishers’ Growing Interest in African Literature

Since the 1980s, 106 African authors and 269 titles have been translated into the Chinese. Here, an insider provides an overview of the last two years, and a preview of 2022.

Bruce Humes

December 23, 2021

Chibụìhè Obi Achịmbá Wins Frontier Poetry’s Award for New Poets

“Part of the reality of being an international student is that one is always nearly broke,” the Nigerian writer said of the $3,000 award.

Uzoma Ihejirika

December 23, 2021

The Nommo Awards, for African Speculative Fiction, Announces 2021 Winners

Novelist Akwaeke Emezi and editor Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki are among this year’s honorees of the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS).

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 21, 2021

Brunel Prize to Be Renamed Evaristo Prize, as APBF Takes Over

After 10 years running it, Bernardine Evaristo steps down. “Having this prize named after her honors her, but more than that, it honors the prize,” said APBF founder Kwame Dawes.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

December 21, 2021

Ukamaka Olisakwe Wins 2021 SprinNG Women Authors Prize

The novelist and Isele editor’s second novel, Ogadinma, Or: Everything Will Be Alright, will receive marketing worth N200,000.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 11, 2021

Shugri Said Salh on Writing Her Life in the Somali Desert

The debut author and nurse on her new memoir The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert, the multiplicity of life, and the potential of stories.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

December 10, 2021

Panels, Performances, and a Million-Naira Slam: At the Lagos Poetry Festival 2021

A recap, with photos, of the four-day Lagos International Poetry Festival 2021, staging a comeback post-pandemic lockdown.

Creative Africa

December 2, 2021

Bernardine Evaristo Named President of Royal Society of Literature

The Booker Prize winner will be the second woman to hold the position. She is “one of literature’s most passionate and effective advocates,” said retiring president Marina Warner.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 23, 2021

The K & L Prize, for U-25 Writers, Goes to NYSC Member

Mustapha Enesi, a recent graduate and National Youth Service corps member, won for his short story “Kesandu.” The $1,000 prize was this year themed “Madness.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

November 19, 2021

The Winners of the Bank Windhoek Doek Awards for Namibian Literature

Judges for the biennial awards selected Ndawedwa Denga Hanghuwo in fiction, Pauline Buhle Ndhlovu in poetry, Natasha Uys in nonfiction, and Namafu Amutse in visual art.

Doek! Magazine

November 9, 2021

From Nigeria to Canada, an Indie Publisher’s Steps

With a planned bookstore in North America, Griots Lounge Publishing is “trying to represent unheard voices,” says founder Bibi Ukonu.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 9, 2021

Paulina Chiziane Is First Black African Woman to Win Camões Award

The Mozambican author, now retired, takes the €100,000 Lusophone literary honour for her body of work.

Uzoma Ihejirika

November 9, 2021

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr Wins the Prix Goncourt, for The Most Secret Memory of Men

The Senegalese novelist becomes the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to get France’s most prestigious literary prize—exactly 100 years after its first Black winner.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 6, 2021

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia Awarded 2021 Nigeria Prize for Literature

The academic won the $100,000 for her debut novel The Son of the House. Peter Uche Umezurike won the N1,000,000 literary criticism prize.

Uzoma Ihejirika

November 3, 2021

Damon Galgut Takes Booker Prize for The Promise

Otosirieze

October 27, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga Wins German Peace Prize 2021

The Zimbabwean author and filmmaker is the first Black woman to receive the €25,000 award from the German Book Trade Association.

Uzoma Ihejirika

October 26, 2021

Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija on Being Jailed and Tortured in Uganda

PEN’s 2021 International Writer of Courage shares his story with Open Country Mag.

Otosirieze

October 26, 2021

Visual Artist Osinachi on NFTs, Afrobeats, and Crypto Literature

Africa’s leading crypto artist, who started as a writer, on his two-dimensional collaboration with music producer Don Jazzy, and the potential for literature.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 11, 2021

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Is PEN’s International Writer of Courage 2021

The Ugandan novelist, jailed and tortured last year, was chosen, as is tradition, by the PEN Pinter prize winner, who this year is Tsitsi Dangarembga.

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