Culture & Society
‘My Writing Goal This Year Is to Follow My Creative Curiosities’ Arinze Ifeakandu’s First Draft
Nigerian writer and author of God’s Children Are Broken Little Things, Arinze Ifeakandu, holds the Nigerian government responsible for the anxiety experienced by queer Nigerians in the country: ‘I believed that our ruling class was largely responsible, by entrenching such avoidable hardship, for much of the intimate fractures around us. And that the people’s (and the state’s) obstinate homophobia was to blame for what I considered the “nervous condition” of gay youth.’ Read More...
‘I Gave Myself Permission to Write a Black Villainess’ Wayétu Moore’s First Draft
Liberian novelist and author of She Would Be King, Wayétu Moore, wants Africans to tell their own stories: ‘A recent book I read portrayed Africa as a uniform experience—overly simplified and stripped of nuance. It reminded me of why it is so important for Africans to tell our own stories, showing the plurality of our voices, our struggles, and our triumphs.’ Read More...
What It Means to Attend Aké Festival
The Aké Arts & Book Festival is drawing young people from across Nigeria and the African diaspora, fostering connections, and inspiring a vibrant culture of literary growth and creativity. Read More...
Note on Being Groomed for Exile
As Africans, our being lost in the diaspora is contingent on the preservation of life for ourselves and for those of our families left behind. Read More...
Youth, Poetry and the Nigerian Traumatic
In a nation like Nigeria that is not so far removed from constant distress and anguish, it is only reasonable that literature, especially from young writers, serves as the analytical medium of these experiences. Read More...
It Is Time to Let the ‘African Mother’ Jokes Go
In recent times, we have been inundated with various social media depictions of African mothers, portraying them as ignorant, irrational, and incoherent. These depictions engender a reading of primitive difference in Africans by reinforcing the trope of the conservative, backward African. Read More...
7 Books by First-Time Authors You Should Read This New Year
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books by first-time authors you should read this new year. These books will introduce you to some of the best emerging talents in African literature. Read More...
The Books We Read in 2024
For our final book recommendation of 2024, we have compiled a list of books we read and discussed in The Republic throughout the year. Read More...
The Faults of the Superficial
In Terminal Maladies, Okwudili Nebeolisa’s poems of care, reminiscence, and longing are imbued with vulnerability and clarity. However, the expressive lucidity does not fully compensate for the lack of depth. Read More...
Is Nigerian Comedy Getting Better or Worse?
In Nigeria’s evolving world of comedy, gauche exaggeration and unearned familiarity are often the defining marks of this generation of comedians, and for better or worse Nigerian comedy has to tell jokes that actually make its audience laugh. Read More...
