North West

Our 2025 August Reading list features the most important books so far this year based on recommendations from The Republic ’s editors and contributors.

Anglo-Nigerian writer and author of Wahala, Nikki May, drew inspiration for her latest novel, This Motherless Land, from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: ‘The idea of a young girl being torn from everything familiar and thrust into an alien environment where she must constantly prove herself is genius.

For the late Nigerian writer, Amos Tutuola, death is not the end. His regeneration lives on in the surreal and fantastic landscapes of African literature. With overlapping influence across the arts, music and literature, Tutuola still journeys.

There is no denying the complicated relationship between football and women. Still, the game offers me a sense of home and a reminder that I belong to something bigger than myself.

To Cameroonians, the Bafut Palace is more than a historical landmark; it is the heart of a living culture, where rituals bind the present to the past. Yet today, the palace stands under siege, its legacy threatened by the Anglophone crisis that has engulfed parts of Cameroon.

In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of short story collections to read when you can’t commit to novels.

From the story of a troubled treasure hunter to that of a spirit child who chooses to remain in a crumbling world rather than escape to bliss of eternity, the books in this collection will cast a spell on you just like any tale by moonlight.

In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that prove that Nigerians are having sex.

From the memoir of a Ugandan climate activist, which emphasizes the importance of climate justice, to a dystopian novel that imagines a climate-ravaged South Africa, the books on this list will show you just how bad things can get if the world does not prioritize climate conservation.

As the Nigerian film industry arrives at a crossroads, experts weigh in on its place in the world and what the future holds.

From a book about the experiences of a gay teenager in a Nigerian boarding school to the empowering memoir of the first trans man to force a medical aid to pay for his trans surgery in South Africa, these books offer unprecedented queer representation, reiterating the popular LGBTQ+ rights slogan, ‘