Edwin Okolo, Author at The Republic

What Happened to Temi Dollface?

Edwin Okolo·August 17, 2025

Much has been said about Temi Dollface, the creative multitasker and musical pioneer who challenged stereotypes about what was possible for women in the Nigerian music industry. Yet, the most common refrain is that she was an artist before her time. Read More...

August/September 2025 Nigeria

Akwaeke Emezi’s Love Letter to Eastern Nigeria

Edwin Okolo·June 22, 2025

In their sophomore novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, published five years ago, Akwaeke Emezi upends conventions of plot, genre and place to tell a riveting story of how three generations of an Igbo family reckon with the unpredictability of desire and the certainty of death. Read More...

June/July 2025 Nigeria Reading

The True Cost of Female Agency

Edwin Okolo·October 20, 2024

In her debut collection, Ghostroots, ’Pemi Aguda challenges our assumptions about the complexities of female relationships, heightening the outcomes by casting them in, and sometimes against, a city that is both magnificent and macabre. Read More...

Best of 2024: Essays Nigeria October/November 2024 Reading

A Worthy Heir to Purple Hibiscus

Edwin Okolo·May 5, 2024

In his debut novel, Blessings, Chukwuebuka Ibeh uses the unique tableau of the Nigerian boarding school experience to explore the complexities of loving, accepting and outgrowing one’s biological and chosen family. Read More...

April/May 2024 Nigeria Reading

A Three-Act Renaissance

Edwin Okolo·April 14, 2024

Beyoncé, the internet and my relationship with money. Read More...

April/May 2024 Best of 2024: Essays

Nigerian Godpunk Comes of Age with Shigidi Book Review: Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi

Edwin Okolo·December 2, 2023

Shigidi, a fantasy novel by Wole Talabi, is a fine display of the author’s dexterity as a writer and his keen eye for story. It is also a fine demonstration of how grossly underutilized African mythology has been in world fantasy. Read More...

Best of 2023: Essays December/January 2023 Nigeria Reading

A Valiant but Flawed Effort to Gauge the Worth of a Life Book Review: People Live Here by TJ Benson

Edwin Okolo·May 4, 2023

People Live Here by TJ Benson is a novel that will inspire conversation because of its novelty and its ambition, but it will also inspire a lot of divisive commentary because of its stylistic choices and less than stellar execution. Read More...

April/May 2023 Nigeria Reading

‘Adolescence Is a Relatively Young Concept.’ Edwin Okolo’s First Draft

Edwin Okolo·August 13, 2021

Writer and author of ‘Iyibo My First’, Edwin Okolo, wishes more people realized the novelty of adolescence: ‘As early as 150 years ago, you were a child, and then became an adult.’ Read our interview. Read More...

August/September 2021 Best of 2021 First Draft Interviews Nigeria