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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
Mustapha Enesi. Courtesy: K & L Prize.

November 11, 2021

Poet Athol Williams Flees South Africa

He testified before the Zondo Commission. “I implicated 39 parties in my testimony so threats could come from many places,” he said. “I’ve faced alienation by corporate South Africa, from the university where I taught ethics. . . and I’ve been let down by many friends.”
Paula Willie-Okafor
Athol Williams. Source: sapeople.com.

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
Paulina Chiziane. Source: rr.sapo.pt.

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
Portrait of Mohamed Mbougar Sarr © Patrice NORMAND/Leextra.

November 6, 2021

Meron Hadero’s Collection of Stories Set for 2022

A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is the Ethiopian Caine Prize winner’s debut book of fiction.
Uzoma Ihejirika

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
Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia. Credit: SprinNG.

November 3, 2021

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
Author Damon Galgut at the 2021 Booker Prize Awards Ceremony in London, Wednesday Nov. 3, 2021. South African writer Damon Galgut wins the Booker Prize for fiction for “The Promise”. (David Parry/PA via AP)

November 3, 2021

In Conversation: Uwem Akpan and Helon Habila

Join the Nigerian writers as they discuss Akpan’s new novel New York, My Village.
Uzoma Ihejirika
Uwem Akpan photo © Aaron Mayes

October 29, 2021

Three Abdulrazak Gurnah Titles Acquired in the U.S. by Riverhead

Since winning the Nobel Prize, the Tanzanian’s novels, most of which went out of print, are now in heavy demand.
Uzoma Ihejirika
Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives by Bloomsbury Books.

October 28, 2021

Ben Okri Joins Letters to the Earth Climate Campaign

The Booker Prize winner performs his letter in a video with his family, ahead of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). “It’s time,” he said, “to show that we human beings can be a great force for good on this planet.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Ben Okri, Mirabella Okri, and Charlotte Jarvis. Credit: Tania Hoser-min.

October 28, 2021

Gbenga Adesina, Romeo Oriogun, & Kemi Alabi to Perform at New York Online Event

The conversation, moderated by fellow Nigerian poet Omotara James, is organized by the City Artists Corps Grant and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Romeo Oriogun by Romeo Oriogun.

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
Tsitsi Dangarembga accepts her German Peace Prize honour. Credit: dpa.

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
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija. Photograph - English PEN

October 7, 2021

Tanzanian Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah Wins Nobel Prize in Literature, Becomes Second Black African Laureate

The prolific 73-year-old, whose latest is the novel Afterlives, has been awarded “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
Otosirieze
Abdulrazak Gurnah by Mark Pringle.

September 17, 2021

Kunle Afolayan’s Netflix Adaptation of Sefi Atta’s Swallow Slated for October 1

The screenplay is by the filmmaker and the novelist. Singer Niyola makes her film debut as the lead.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Eniola Akinbo (Niyola) as Tolani Ajao in the forthcoming film adaptation of Swallow. Credit: KapHubNews.

September 14, 2021

Sulaiman Addonia Wins Golden Afro Artistic Award for Literature

The Belgian awards, which seek to improve cultural diversity in the country, honoured the Eritrean Ethiopian novelist and curator for founding a literary festival and a writing academy for refugees.
Paula Willie-Okafor
Sulaiman Addonia accepts his Golden Afro Artistic Award, flanked onstage by friends. Source: Sulaiman Addonia's Twitter.

September 8, 2021

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Angela Merkel Talk Politics, Feminism, and Stories

The opening event at the Theater der Welt Festival in Germany saw the cultural icon and the European leader share experiences on race, fashion, and difference.
Otosirieze
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Credit: The Guardian.

September 4, 2021

Of This Our Country Audiobook to Be Narrated by Weruche Opia and Oseloka Obi

The two actors of Nigerian descent will narrate HarperCollins’ and The Borough Press’ forthcoming collection of essays by Nigerian writers.
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Some writers featured in Of This Our Country.

August 5, 2021

7 Literary Magazines Accepting Submissions in August

Ernest Ogunyemi

August 5, 2021

Kwame Dawes’ African Poetry Digital Portal Gets $750,000 Mellon Foundation Grant

It will enhance the next phase of the Portal, “expanding research and scholarship relating to African poetry and joining with other institutions to create a digital collections hub that will give access to materials held by institutions worldwide.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu
Kwame Dawes and Lorna Dawes. Photo by Annie Albin / University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

November 23, 2021

Mustapha Enesi. Courtesy: K & L Prize.

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 11, 2021

Athol Williams. Source: sapeople.com.

Poet Athol Williams Flees South Africa

He testified before the Zondo Commission. “I implicated 39 parties in my testimony so threats could come from many places,” he said. “I’ve faced alienation by corporate South Africa, from the university where I taught ethics. . . and I’ve been let down by many friends.”
Paula Willie-Okafor

November 9, 2021

Paulina Chiziane. Source: rr.sapo.pt.

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

Portrait of Mohamed Mbougar Sarr © Patrice NORMAND/Leextra.

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

Meron Hadero’s Collection of Stories Set for 2022

A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is the Ethiopian Caine Prize winner’s debut book of fiction.
Uzoma Ihejirika

November 6, 2021

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia. Credit: SprinNG.

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

Author Damon Galgut at the 2021 Booker Prize Awards Ceremony in London, Wednesday Nov. 3, 2021. South African writer Damon Galgut wins the Booker Prize for fiction for “The Promise”. (David Parry/PA via AP)

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

November 3, 2021

Uwem Akpan photo © Aaron Mayes

In Conversation: Uwem Akpan and Helon Habila

Join the Nigerian writers as they discuss Akpan’s new novel New York, My Village.
Uzoma Ihejirika

October 29, 2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives by Bloomsbury Books.

Three Abdulrazak Gurnah Titles Acquired in the U.S. by Riverhead

Since winning the Nobel Prize, the Tanzanian’s novels, most of which went out of print, are now in heavy demand.
Uzoma Ihejirika

October 28, 2021

Ben Okri, Mirabella Okri, and Charlotte Jarvis. Credit: Tania Hoser-min.

Ben Okri Joins Letters to the Earth Climate Campaign

The Booker Prize winner performs his letter in a video with his family, ahead of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). “It’s time,” he said, “to show that we human beings can be a great force for good on this planet.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 28, 2021

Romeo Oriogun by Romeo Oriogun.

Gbenga Adesina, Romeo Oriogun, & Kemi Alabi to Perform at New York Online Event

The conversation, moderated by fellow Nigerian poet Omotara James, is organized by the City Artists Corps Grant and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 27, 2021

Tsitsi Dangarembga accepts her German Peace Prize honour. Credit: dpa.

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 11, 2021

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija. Photograph - English PEN

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

October 7, 2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah by Mark Pringle.

Tanzanian Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah Wins Nobel Prize in Literature, Becomes Second Black African Laureate

The prolific 73-year-old, whose latest is the novel Afterlives, has been awarded “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
Otosirieze

September 17, 2021

Eniola Akinbo (Niyola) as Tolani Ajao in the forthcoming film adaptation of Swallow. Credit: KapHubNews.

Kunle Afolayan’s Netflix Adaptation of Sefi Atta’s Swallow Slated for October 1

The screenplay is by the filmmaker and the novelist. Singer Niyola makes her film debut as the lead.
Paula Willie-Okafor

September 14, 2021

Sulaiman Addonia accepts his Golden Afro Artistic Award, flanked onstage by friends. Source: Sulaiman Addonia's Twitter.

Sulaiman Addonia Wins Golden Afro Artistic Award for Literature

The Belgian awards, which seek to improve cultural diversity in the country, honoured the Eritrean Ethiopian novelist and curator for founding a literary festival and a writing academy for refugees.
Paula Willie-Okafor

September 8, 2021

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Credit: The Guardian.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Angela Merkel Talk Politics, Feminism, and Stories

The opening event at the Theater der Welt Festival in Germany saw the cultural icon and the European leader share experiences on race, fashion, and difference.
Otosirieze

September 4, 2021

Some writers featured in Of This Our Country.

Of This Our Country Audiobook to Be Narrated by Weruche Opia and Oseloka Obi

The two actors of Nigerian descent will narrate HarperCollins’ and The Borough Press’ forthcoming collection of essays by Nigerian writers.
Emmanuel Esomnofu

August 5, 2021

7 Literary Magazines Accepting Submissions in August

Ernest Ogunyemi

August 5, 2021

Kwame Dawes and Lorna Dawes. Photo by Annie Albin / University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Kwame Dawes’ African Poetry Digital Portal Gets $750,000 Mellon Foundation Grant

It will enhance the next phase of the Portal, “expanding research and scholarship relating to African poetry and joining with other institutions to create a digital collections hub that will give access to materials held by institutions worldwide.”
Emmanuel Esomnofu

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