News

April 30, 2021

Teju Cole’s Essays in Black Paper Seek Humanity in Darkness

It is the author and photographer’s eighth book and second collection of essays.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 30, 2021

Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom Shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021

The selections, says the chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo, are “gloriously varied and thematically rich . . . and grapple with society’s big issues expressed through thrilling storytelling.”

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 23, 2021

Jowhor Ile & Adachioma Ezeano Win O. Henry Prizes 2021

Their short stories will appear in The Best Short Stories Anthology 2021, guest-edited and introduced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Being selected is “a thrill,” Ezeano says.

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 23, 2021

Schiavo Library to Host Echezonachukwu Nduka for US National Poetry Month

The acclaimed Nigerian poet and pianist will discuss his poetry collections, Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts and Waterman.

Uchenna Emelife

April 18, 2021

Ladan Osman & Tope Folarin Win Whiting Awards

“Osman’s dazzling and incisive poetry creates vibrant connections between generations of women,” said the committee. “Folarin’s fable-like novel is painful in its examination of the way ready-made beliefs are overlaid onto the minds of children.”

Uzoma Ihejirika

April 14, 2021

Pluto Press Launches Walter Rodney Prize for African & Caribbean Non-Fiction

The £4,000 initiative, for women and non-binary debut authors influenced by Walter Rodney, comes with publication.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 11, 2021

Submit to Africa Risen, a Speculative Fiction Anthology, Co-edited by Sheree Renée Thomas

“A celebration of African storytelling,” the anthology’s other co-editors are Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight, who previously co-edited Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

Africa Risen

April 8, 2021

Kemi Alabi’s Manuscript, Against Heaven, Wins Academy of American Poets First Book Award

The American poet Claudia Rankine, who picked it as winner, called it “energetic and brilliant.”

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 7, 2021

Boston Review & The Against Nature Journal to Host Panel on Binyavanga Wainaina’s Fiction

Inspired by the rediscovery of his first published short story in 1996, the publications begin a critical revival of the titanic writer’s fiction.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

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

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

March 23, 2021

Sulaiman Addonia’s The Seers, About an Eritrean Refugee in London, Goes to Canongate

The Eritrean-Ethiopian’s third novel has been acquired by Canongate’s Ellah Wakatama in the UK and the Commonwealth and by Graywolf Press in the US.

Paula Willie-Okafor

March 19, 2021

Ben Okri & Skepta Feature on Tony Allen’s “Cosmosis”

The Booker Prize winner appears on the first song off There Is No End, a posthumous album celebrating the late Afrobeat drummer.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

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

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

March 13, 2021

Chinelo Okparanta’s Next Novel, Harry Sylvester Bird, Arrives 2022

The book, about a conservative White American man, is a major departure for the acclaimed novelist, best known for her stories about queer Nigerian women.

Otosirieze

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

March 11, 2021

With The Rinehart Frames, Cheswayo Mphanza Seeks to Capture Black Ubiquity

The Zambian poet’s debut, which won the Sillerman First Book Prize, “questions the boundaries of diaspora and narrative on monolithic categorizations of Blackness.”

Otosirieze

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

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

April 30, 2021

Teju Cole’s Essays in Black Paper Seek Humanity in Darkness

It is the author and photographer’s eighth book and second collection of essays.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 30, 2021

Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom Shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021

The selections, says the chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo, are “gloriously varied and thematically rich . . . and grapple with society’s big issues expressed through thrilling storytelling.”

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 23, 2021

Jowhor Ile & Adachioma Ezeano Win O. Henry Prizes 2021

Their short stories will appear in The Best Short Stories Anthology 2021, guest-edited and introduced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Being selected is “a thrill,” Ezeano says.

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 23, 2021

Schiavo Library to Host Echezonachukwu Nduka for US National Poetry Month

The acclaimed Nigerian poet and pianist will discuss his poetry collections, Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts and Waterman.

Uchenna Emelife

April 18, 2021

Ladan Osman & Tope Folarin Win Whiting Awards

“Osman’s dazzling and incisive poetry creates vibrant connections between generations of women,” said the committee. “Folarin’s fable-like novel is painful in its examination of the way ready-made beliefs are overlaid onto the minds of children.”

Uzoma Ihejirika

April 14, 2021

Pluto Press Launches Walter Rodney Prize for African & Caribbean Non-Fiction

The £4,000 initiative, for women and non-binary debut authors influenced by Walter Rodney, comes with publication.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 11, 2021

Submit to Africa Risen, a Speculative Fiction Anthology, Co-edited by Sheree Renée Thomas

“A celebration of African storytelling,” the anthology’s other co-editors are Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight, who previously co-edited Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

Africa Risen

April 8, 2021

Kemi Alabi’s Manuscript, Against Heaven, Wins Academy of American Poets First Book Award

The American poet Claudia Rankine, who picked it as winner, called it “energetic and brilliant.”

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 7, 2021

Boston Review & The Against Nature Journal to Host Panel on Binyavanga Wainaina’s Fiction

Inspired by the rediscovery of his first published short story in 1996, the publications begin a critical revival of the titanic writer’s fiction.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

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

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

March 23, 2021

Sulaiman Addonia’s The Seers, About an Eritrean Refugee in London, Goes to Canongate

The Eritrean-Ethiopian’s third novel has been acquired by Canongate’s Ellah Wakatama in the UK and the Commonwealth and by Graywolf Press in the US.

Paula Willie-Okafor

March 19, 2021

Ben Okri & Skepta Feature on Tony Allen’s “Cosmosis”

The Booker Prize winner appears on the first song off There Is No End, a posthumous album celebrating the late Afrobeat drummer.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

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

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

March 13, 2021

Chinelo Okparanta’s Next Novel, Harry Sylvester Bird, Arrives 2022

The book, about a conservative White American man, is a major departure for the acclaimed novelist, best known for her stories about queer Nigerian women.

Otosirieze

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

March 11, 2021

With The Rinehart Frames, Cheswayo Mphanza Seeks to Capture Black Ubiquity

The Zambian poet’s debut, which won the Sillerman First Book Prize, “questions the boundaries of diaspora and narrative on monolithic categorizations of Blackness.”

Otosirieze

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

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