AiW Guest: Rashi Rohatgi. We’ve been a fan of Akwaeke Emezi’s writing since the pre-launch of their debut, Freshwater, at Africa Writes 2018; after that luminous novel and its YA successor, Pet, Emezi is back with what is perhaps 2020’s… Read More ›
Nigerian literature
Q&A Words on the Times, Outriders Africa: Emmanuel Iduma
Today we have the pleasure of sharing our final post in the Words on the Times, Outriders Africa series with Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma, with an excerpt from his travelogue A Stranger’s Pose. Iduma was born in Akure, Nigeria and… Read More ›
Q&A: Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike interviews Ukamaka Olisakwe, author of “Ogadinma” (2020).
AiW Guest: Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike AiW note: Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma Or, Everything Will Be All Right was released with Indigo Press in September and from Masobe Books on the 27th October this year – marking itself as a “feminist classic in… Read More ›
Q&A: Débọ̀ Awẹ́ on his Yoruba-language literary career
Débọ̀ Awẹ́ is a writer, a retired secondary school headteacher and a minister of God in Praise for Christ Ministries International. He is also the CEO of Elyon Publishers, a publishing company in Iléṣà, Ọ̀șun State, Nigeria, where he lives…. Read More ›
Call for Submissions: The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2020 (Deadline: 31 March)
We are delighted to share that The Nigeria Prize for Literature is calling for entries for an edition in prose fiction and for an edition in literary criticism this year. The prize usually rotates among four literary genres – prose… Read More ›
Of Odyssean Saga and Romantic Tragedy – a review of Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities
AiW Guest Tọ́pẹ́ Salaudeen-Adégòkè ‘You paid me evil for all I did for you…’ –An Orchestra of Minorities. ‘If the luminous intensity of Good did not give the night of Evil its blackness, Evil would lose its appeal.’ –Literature and… Read More ›
“An excoriating critique”: Review of Leye Adenle’s ‘When Trouble Sleeps’
AiW Guest: Sam Naidu. Leye Adenle’s noir thriller, When Trouble Sleeps, is an excoriating critique of contemporary Nigerian society. From the prologue, with its melodramatic plane crash to the surprisingly satisfying conclusion, this novel is relentless in its examination of… Read More ›
Event: Irenosen Okojie, South Bank, London (21 January 2019)
Irenosen Okojie’s Short Story Tool Box South Bank Centre, London 21st January 2019 Save the date! Book tickets now! Incisive, mysterious, surprising: the short story is addictive to writers. Discover your own approach in this six-week course with Nigerian-British author… Read More ›
Caine Prize 2018 Shortlist: A Review of Wole Talabi’s “Wednesday’s Story”
AiW Guest: Sana Goyal AiW’s annual Caine Prize review series is back. We’ve been talking about prize culture for a long time at Africa in Words; Kate Wallis started off this series in 2013. In the coming days we are… Read More ›
Event: Celebrating Buchi Emecheta (03 Feb, SOAS, London)
We are happy to announce a day of conversations, readings, workshops and performances to mark the life and work of the British Nigerian writer, Buchi Emecheta. The event will take place at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre at SOAS, University… Read More ›
Self-help as Warfare: Lola Akande’s campus novel and What it Takes to be a Woman who Succeeds on a University Campus
AiW Guest: Carli Coetzee The title of Lola Akande’s novel What it Takes can be interpreted in more than one way. The novel can be read as a celebratory narrative of the extraordinary achievements of the protagonist, Funto Oyewole, as… Read More ›
Refreshingly focused on the fiction, but struggling for definition: a review of A Companion to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, edited by Ernest N. Emenyonu.
AiW Guest: Matthew Lecznar Since the turn of the 21st-century, few authors have been able to implant themselves on the global literary imagination with the kind of deftness and flare exhibited by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The author’s… Read More ›
Caine Prize Shortlist Reviews, Part 5: ‘God’s Children Are Little Broken Things’ by Arinze Ifeakandu
AiW Guest: David Borman This week, we are featuring reviews of the five stories shortlisted for the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing. The prize winner will be announced on Monday 3 July. The fifth and final review of the… Read More ›
Event: Literary Weekender, Ghana & Nigeria: a Literary Highlife, 25-28 May 2017, London
Litro Magazine’s Literary Weekender London’s first literary festival celebrating Ghanaian and Nigerian literature and their cultural landscapes Journey to West Africa for Litro Magazine’s latest #WorldSeries instalment – an inaugural Literary Weekender – to explore the cultural and… Read More ›
Event: Legacies of Biafra Conference, 21-22 April 2017, London
The 6th International Igbo Conference Legacies of Biafra – Reflections on the Nigeria-Biafra War 50 years on 21-22 April 2017, SOAS, London The ‘Legacies of Biafra’ conference seeks to explore the on-going impact of the war locally and globally, considering… Read More ›
CfP: Festschrift for Niyi Osundare at 70, deadline 15 May 2017
STYLISTICS, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE: A FESTSCHRIFT FOR NIYI OSUNDARE AT 70 Professor Oluwaniyi Osundare – NNOM, scholar, teacher, stylistician, poet, playwright, public intellectual, newspaper columnist, etc. – will be seventy years old on March 12, 2017. The multiple award-winning poet… Read More ›
Anietie Isong’s Radio Sunrise shortlisted for the Kingston University Big Read 2017
Radio Sunrise by Anietie Isong has been shortlisted for the Kingston University Big Read project. The novel is one of the six shortlisted titles to be considered for staff and students to read before the 2017 academic year begins. … Read More ›
Event: Nigerian Night, 25 January, London
Nigeria Night: Satirical and provocative portraits from two native voices Wednesday 25th January 19:00 London, Piccadilly Anietie Isong started his career as a journalist with Radio Nigeria. His short stories have been broadcast on the BBC and Radio Nigeria and… Read More ›
Q&A: Uche Peter Umez interviews poet Niran Okewole
AiW Guest: Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike Niran Okewole is the author of the widely-acclaimed Logarhythms. His poems have won the MUSON Festival Poetry Prizes in 2002 and 2003, and the Sawubona Music Jam/Berlin International Poetry Festival Prize in 2008. The Hate Artist is his latest… Read More ›
CfP: Ọyẹ: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture, deadline: 28 February 2017
Call for Papers Ọyẹ: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture deadline: 28 February 2017 Ọyẹ: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture is an academic journal domiciled in the Department of English and Literary Studies of the Federal University,… Read More ›
africainwords.com 