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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 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.

July 2, 2021

The James Currey Prize for Literature: The Shortlist

Five writers are in the running for the £1,000 prize money and a publication deal.
James Currey Prize for Literature
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, both from Heinemann's African Writers Series, edited by Achebe and published by James Currey. Credit: Brown Bag Books.

June 25, 2021

Cameroon’s New Literary Generation Comes of Age, as Anglophone Crisis Deepens

The central African country’s two politico-cultural systems clashed from the beginning. But in the last 10 years, literary production increased and a conscious community formed, and at the heart of it is Bakwa Magazine.
Otosirieze
Cameroonian writers (L-R): Howard Meh-Buh Maximus, Louisa Lum, Nkiacha Atemnkeng, Nelson Kamkuimo, Monique Kwachou; Dzekashu MacViban, Nana Nkweti.

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 21, 2021

Kwame Dawes & Boris Boubacar Diop Are Finalists for Neustadt International Prize for Literature

The $50,000 award, given by the University of Oklahoma-based World Literature Today, has historically predicted future Nobel Prize in Literature winners.
Otosirieze
Kwame Dawes by Chris Abani.

June 18, 2021

Bakwa Magazine at 10: Celebrating a Decade of Disruption

We are hosting events, podcasts, and readings in Yaounde, London, and Berlin. Consolidated and recomposed back issues (1-8) will be available for free, and issues 9-10 for sale in physical and eBook formats.
Bakwa Magazine
Bakwa 10: Family Politricks. Credit: Bakwa Magazine.

June 17, 2021

The James Currey Prize for Literature 2021: The Longlist

The £1,000 award, founded by the Nigerian writer Onyeka Nwelue, is for unpublished manuscripts.
James Currey Prize for Literature
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, both from Heinemann's African Writers Series, edited by Achebe and published by James Currey. Credit: Brown Bag Books.

June 9, 2021

Chibuihe Obi Achimba Wins SBCF Emerging Artist Award

The prestigious New England initiative selected the Nigerian writer and former Harvard fellow for his poetry manuscript in progress.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Chibuihe Obi Achimba.

June 9, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga Awarded PEN Pinter Prize 2021

The novelist—Open Country Mag’s December 2020 cover star—is recognized for her “unflinching, unswerving gaze,” having “charted the development of Zimbabwe from a British colony to an autocratic and troubled free state.”
Ernest Ogunyemi
Tsitsi Dangarembga.

June 4, 2021

David Diop Wins International Booker Prize for Story of Senegalese Soldiers During WWI

Inspired by his grandfather, At Night All Blood Is Black takes place at the French front. Diop will share the £50,000 with his translator Anna Moschovakis.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
David Diop by Joel Saget, AFP.

June 3, 2021

Troy Onyango, Rémy Ngamije Lead “Revitalizing” AKO Caine Prize Shortlist

After a key change to the prize rules, three of the five finalists are published by new African literary magazines: Namibia’s first literary magazine Doek!, Kenya’s Lolwe, and Uganda’s Ibua Journal.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Rémy Ngamije by Abantu Festival.

June 3, 2021

Akwaeke Emezi Covers TIME as a 2021 Next Generation Leader

The Nigerian novelist is, the magazine says, “a storyteller for a changing world.”
Ernest Ogunyemi
Akwaeke Emezi covers TIME. Photo by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

June 2, 2021

Bernardine Evaristo & Teju Cole Elected into American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Joining them are Oprah Winfrey, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and 248 others in the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, and business.
Paula Willie-Okafor

June 2, 2021

Itiola Jones Receives Fellowship from Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing

The 20.35 Africa collective member will use the time to finish her collection of poetry.
Paula Willie-Okafor
I.S. Jones by Nicholas Nichols.

May 28, 2021

Binyavanga Wainaina, in His Own Words

On the second anniversary of the great Kenyan writer’s passing, we remember him with some of his quotes.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Binyavanga Wainaina by Allan Gichigi.

May 28, 2021

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Wins Jhalak Prize 2021

The Ugandan was awarded for her second novel, The First Woman.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Jennifer Makumbi by Danny Moran.

May 23, 2021

Abibiman Publishing Aims to “Change the Narrative” for African & Caribbean Authors

The new press, launched by novelist and filmmaker Onyeka Nwelue and business consultant Chudi Igweonu, hopes to bring “solid visibility” to stories.
Ernest Ogunyemi
Onyeka Nwelue. From the Guardian.

May 23, 2021

Chinua Achebe Saw the Nigerian Oppression

On the eight anniversary of his burial, we look at the great writer’s continued relevance. By engaging his work more as a chronicle of oppression, one sees him as a modern voice who still has so much to say.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Chinua Achebe. From The Paris Review.

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 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

July 2, 2021

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, both from Heinemann's African Writers Series, edited by Achebe and published by James Currey. Credit: Brown Bag Books.

The James Currey Prize for Literature: The Shortlist

Five writers are in the running for the £1,000 prize money and a publication deal.
James Currey Prize for Literature

June 25, 2021

Cameroonian writers (L-R): Howard Meh-Buh Maximus, Louisa Lum, Nkiacha Atemnkeng, Nelson Kamkuimo, Monique Kwachou; Dzekashu MacViban, Nana Nkweti.

Cameroon’s New Literary Generation Comes of Age, as Anglophone Crisis Deepens

The central African country’s two politico-cultural systems clashed from the beginning. But in the last 10 years, literary production increased and a conscious community formed, and at the heart of it is Bakwa Magazine.
Otosirieze

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 21, 2021

Kwame Dawes by Chris Abani.

Kwame Dawes & Boris Boubacar Diop Are Finalists for Neustadt International Prize for Literature

The $50,000 award, given by the University of Oklahoma-based World Literature Today, has historically predicted future Nobel Prize in Literature winners.
Otosirieze

June 18, 2021

Bakwa 10: Family Politricks. Credit: Bakwa Magazine.

Bakwa Magazine at 10: Celebrating a Decade of Disruption

We are hosting events, podcasts, and readings in Yaounde, London, and Berlin. Consolidated and recomposed back issues (1-8) will be available for free, and issues 9-10 for sale in physical and eBook formats.
Bakwa Magazine

June 17, 2021

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, both from Heinemann's African Writers Series, edited by Achebe and published by James Currey. Credit: Brown Bag Books.

The James Currey Prize for Literature 2021: The Longlist

The £1,000 award, founded by the Nigerian writer Onyeka Nwelue, is for unpublished manuscripts.
James Currey Prize for Literature

June 9, 2021

Chibuihe Obi Achimba.

Chibuihe Obi Achimba Wins SBCF Emerging Artist Award

The prestigious New England initiative selected the Nigerian writer and former Harvard fellow for his poetry manuscript in progress.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

June 9, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Tsitsi Dangarembga Awarded PEN Pinter Prize 2021

The novelist—Open Country Mag’s December 2020 cover star—is recognized for her “unflinching, unswerving gaze,” having “charted the development of Zimbabwe from a British colony to an autocratic and troubled free state.”
Ernest Ogunyemi

June 4, 2021

David Diop by Joel Saget, AFP.

David Diop Wins International Booker Prize for Story of Senegalese Soldiers During WWI

Inspired by his grandfather, At Night All Blood Is Black takes place at the French front. Diop will share the £50,000 with his translator Anna Moschovakis.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

June 3, 2021

Rémy Ngamije by Abantu Festival.

Troy Onyango, Rémy Ngamije Lead “Revitalizing” AKO Caine Prize Shortlist

After a key change to the prize rules, three of the five finalists are published by new African literary magazines: Namibia’s first literary magazine Doek!, Kenya’s Lolwe, and Uganda’s Ibua Journal.
Ernest Ogunyemi

June 3, 2021

Akwaeke Emezi covers TIME. Photo by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

Akwaeke Emezi Covers TIME as a 2021 Next Generation Leader

The Nigerian novelist is, the magazine says, “a storyteller for a changing world.”
Ernest Ogunyemi

June 2, 2021

Bernardine Evaristo & Teju Cole Elected into American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Joining them are Oprah Winfrey, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and 248 others in the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, and business.
Paula Willie-Okafor

June 2, 2021

I.S. Jones by Nicholas Nichols.

Itiola Jones Receives Fellowship from Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing

The 20.35 Africa collective member will use the time to finish her collection of poetry.
Paula Willie-Okafor

May 28, 2021

Binyavanga Wainaina by Allan Gichigi.

Binyavanga Wainaina, in His Own Words

On the second anniversary of the great Kenyan writer’s passing, we remember him with some of his quotes.
Ernest Ogunyemi

May 28, 2021

Jennifer Makumbi by Danny Moran.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Wins Jhalak Prize 2021

The Ugandan was awarded for her second novel, The First Woman.
Paula Willie-Okafor

May 23, 2021

Onyeka Nwelue. From the Guardian.

Abibiman Publishing Aims to “Change the Narrative” for African & Caribbean Authors

The new press, launched by novelist and filmmaker Onyeka Nwelue and business consultant Chudi Igweonu, hopes to bring “solid visibility” to stories.
Ernest Ogunyemi

May 23, 2021

Chinua Achebe. From The Paris Review.

Chinua Achebe Saw the Nigerian Oppression

On the eight anniversary of his burial, we look at the great writer’s continued relevance. By engaging his work more as a chronicle of oppression, one sees him as a modern voice who still has so much to say.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

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