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VIDEO: You’ve Never Seen an Igbo Fable This Awesome
It’s story time people! But there’s no bon-fire or moon light. It’s 1.40 minutes of stunning visuals accompanied by a voice speaking in igbo—the creation of Akwaeke Emezi titled Ududeagu It’s all so...
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7 Tricks to Make You a Kickass Reader of Novels
Chimamanda Adichie has written 3 novels, none of which you’ve read. Her name comes up over cocktails and you find yourself smiling like a sheep and nodding. You want to read novels. God knows you’ve...
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Review of Billy Kahora’s Caine Prize Story—The Gorilla’s Apprentice—by Aaron...
We’re kicking off the Caine Prize story-review series with Aaron Bady’s review of Billy Kahora’s story, The Gorilla’s Apprentice. Kahora’s story, published in Granta (2010) is one of five stories...
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#ShortReadFriday: 1929 Letter by Calabar Man on Being Dejobbed, Bewifed, and...
If you’re “bewifed” by “five savage wives” and childrenised by “sixteen voracious children,” what do you do when you’re suddenly “dejobbed?” You write a letter in which you tell your boss that you...
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Adichie’s Political Canticle
“The President I Want” by Chimamanda Adichie is a direct address to President Goodluck Jonathan, in which she slams his response to the abduction of over 200 girls in northern Nigeria. The writing...
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“Each Sticky Roly-poly Piece of Flesh”— Shrink by Wana Udobang | A Brittle...
A young woman must come to terms with the conflict raging between herself, her body, and society’s perception of her body. She confesses to the reader her tortured attempts to make her body conform...
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“A Near Perfect Story”— Review of Diane Awerbuck’s Caine Prize Story by...
Keeping our promise to bring you reviews of all five stories shortlisted for the Caine Prize, we featured Aaron Bady’s review of Billy Kahora’s story last week. This week, it’s Nigerian novelist,...
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Transforming Nollywood, One Script Writer at a Time—Afrinolly’s Cinema4Change
Pearl Osibu By Pearl Osibu I’m Pearl Osibu — Literary writer, blogger, fashion designer. Notice, not a screenwriter. Or shall we say I wasn’t a screenwriter? I, now most definitely, am, and that’s...
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The Ebedi Interview: Q&A with Jumoke Verissimo, Poet and Short story Writer
Here is the second of a series of Q&As with the three most recent alumni of Ebedi International Writers Residency. {Read the interview with Gertrude Uzoh HERE.} Ebedi Writers Residency founded by...
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10 Powerful Quotes About Storytelling By Ben Okri
Ben Okri is a Nigerian novelist 1. To poison a nation, poison its stories. A demoralised nation tells demoralised stories to itself. Beware of the storytellers who are not fully conscious of the...
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What African Writers Did This Week
Teju Cole has been actively lending his voice to the #bringbackourgirls campaign/debates all this week. But a few days ago, he does something different. He writes a meditation on what life might be...
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Chicago Stands Up for Abducted Nigerian Girls | A Brittle Paper Photo Story
From Lagos to London to Paris, crowds are gathering in front of consulates and in city squares, chanting the same chorus: “bring back our girls now!” On April 14th, an insurgent group called Boko...
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Nnedi Okorafor’s Fantasy Novel Has A Breathtaking French Edition Cover
First of all, congrats to Nnedi Okorafor. The French translation of her novel, WHO FEARS DEATH (Qui a Peur de la Mort) makes the shortlist for the French Prize “The Prix Imaginales.” The prize is...
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How to Read Your Way to an Orgasm
Want to spice up your literary experience and make reading LITERALLY pleasurable? Here is what you do: 1. Pick up a novel: make sure it’s a novel that means something to you. The theme of the novel...
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Of Dead or Headless Fathers — Review of Okwiri Oduors Caine Prize Story by...
Still keeping our promise to bring you reviews of all five stories shortlisted for the Caine Prize. Last week, we featured Richard Ali’s review of Diane Awerbuck’s “Phosphorescence” and the week...
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Wole Soyinka’s Guide to Paris
Wole Soyinka did a bit of hustling when he returned to Nigeria in the late ’50s, after his time at Leeds University. He dabbled into a lot of things, one of which was writing plays aired on Radio...
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8 Things You Should Know About the 2014 Etisalat Prize
Judges of the 2013 edition in Morocco deliberating on entries. The Etisalat Prize for Literature is awarded for the first published fictional work by an African author. Noviolet Bulawayo won the...
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A Character in Achebe’s Novel I’d Love to Meet and Why
I’ve always been uneasy about Unoka’s death. Unoka is the father of Okonkwo, the principal character in Achebe’s 1958 classic, Things Fall Apart. He is thought to be a lazy man because he loved making...
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Taiye Selasi on Weathering Romantic Disasters and Loving Vera Wang
We currently have a crush on Taiye Selasi. Don’t judge. We are simply captivated by the portrait of a woman who carries her literary profession and her love for fashion with such grace and elegance....
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Prosaic and Uninspiring — A Review of Huchu’s Caine Prize Story By Kola Tubosun
Still keeping our promise to bring you reviews of all five stories shortlisted for the Caine Prize. So far, we’ve featured Orem Ochiel’s review of Oduor’s “My Father’s Head.” Richard Ali’s review...
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