A thread of coincidences: a film ending from my late ‘90s childhood, a song from a talk show late last year, a magazine article minutes ago. This is how they gathered. I was surfing my Google Chrome recommendations, one piece opened into another, and I clicked on this listicle on badass Black women film characters. …
The Art Naija Series is a sequence of themed e-anthologies of writing and visual art exploring different aspects of Nigerianness. The first, Enter Naija: The Book of Places (Oct., 2016), focuses on cities in Nigeria. The second, Work Naija: The Book of Vocations (June, 2017), focuses on professions in Nigeria. Both anthologies were published by Brittle …
Professor Nnadozie Inyama taught us “African Fiction” in my third year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2012-13. It was a straightforward course, with a pile of novels to be read, mostly novels from the African Writers Series. I was 18, had newly decided to become a serious writer, and, although I did not …
“A thoroughly modern epic but with bones as old as time. This is a story of love and betrayal and madness and music that is all the more beautiful for its plainspoken poignancy. Yet there is prose in here that steals your breath away.” — The Gerald Kraak Prize, 2016 your life is a blooming …
I think it was on February 8 that I visited Centre for Memories in Enugu, a hub for Igbo history and culture staging an exhibition of images and reports of the Biafran War. I never came around to sharing the photos I took. I am doing so today, May 30, the 53rd year since the …
A Visit to Centre for Memories: Photos of Biafra Read More »
Today, April 15, 2020, my time as Deputy Editor of Brittle Paper came to an end. It is a position that I originated and used to expand the platform’s brand, improve its image, and in general successfully undertake major unprecedented projects in the African literary scene. I was asked to join as Submissions Editor by …
As a writer and journalist, I work from fact, my understanding of necessary truth, and a sense of responsibility. This is the case with my report of a novelist and state First Lady’s curious comments on her son’s threat, in ethnic diatribe, to gang-rape a Twitter User’s mother. Personally, I find the threat offensive and …
Last month, prompted by an associate, I searched for and found my LITERARY AGENCIES SUBMISSIONS folder, containing information about most of the agents I queried between 2015 and 2017. The list was forwarded to a network of African writers, which is the point: helping other writers find their ways. Like in every other industry, crucial …
Literary Agencies: Here Are 21 Interested in African Writers Read More »
The day I went to see Omoni Oboli’s Love Is War was the first day I saw it on the cinema company’s site. The premise, wife Oboli and husband Richard Mofe-Damijo running against each other for governor, interested me. And I like watching Oboli on screen. So I went. And paid. And sat. And within …
Dear Friend, I initially planned this to be a grand, long letter about the writing life, but, you know, stuff keeps getting in the way, and I thought it best to get this out anyhow. Professionally speaking, we all enter writing hoping for the very best for ourselves. We may be aware of difficulties, but …
Dear Friend, Some Incoherent Writing Life Advice Read More »