Culture & Society
Are Indie Creators the Future of Talk Shows in Nigeria?
Talk shows in Nigeria have undergone a revolution with the rise of indie creators who have adopted confessional-style videos and personality interviews. Read More...
The Political Dilemmas of Tanzania’s Music Artists
Owing to stifled freedom of speech coupled with minimal structural support, Tanzanian music artists are finding themselves without any political space beyond praising the ruling government. Read More...
7 Books That Bring Elderly Characters to Life
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that bring elderly characters to life. Whether featuring a closeted grandpa in the UK or a sexually liberated seventy-five-year-old Nigerian woman in San Francisco, the books on this list prove that great fiction can centre around elderly characters too! Read More...
Writers and the Contemporary Books They Believe Will Become Future Classics
In our past First Draft interviews, we asked leading African writers about the contemporary books they believe will become classics in the future. Here’s what they told us. Read More...
The True Cost of Female Agency
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...
‘I Hope That My Work Will Never Side with the Oppressor’ Dennis Mugaa’s First Draft
Kenyan writer and author of Half Portraits Under Water, Dennis Mugaa, believes that President William Ruto’s administration is authoritarian: ‘Young people genuinely want a better country, but we are living in a country that has been slowly sliding into authoritarianism over the past two years, since President Ruto’s government took over. Beyond that, his leadership has been very poor.’ Read More...
7 Books That Are Time Machines in Disguise
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that are time machines in disguise. These books will take you from the Nigerian civil war era to pre-apartheid South Africa, and even many centuries back to the expedition that brought the first African to the Americas. Read More...
Looking for Ken Saro-Wiwa
The Republic: A Podcast is a narrative podcast series exploring pivotal Nigerian and broader African historical events and figures. In the second season, host Wale Lawal traces the life and legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of nine non-violent Ogoni activists the General Sani Abacha military government brutally executed in 1995. Read More...
7 Books That Will Help You Survive the Boredom of Lagos Traffic
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that will help you survive the boredom of Lagos traffic. Whether a short story collection or a science fiction novella, the books on this list have intriguing plot structures that will immerse you into their worlds, transporting you far from the frustrating stop-and-go of Lagos traffic. Read More...
Nollywood’s Unrefined Portrayal of Sex Work and Sex Workers
Nigerian filmmakers must break free from ingrained stigma, clichés, caricature characters, and internalized disdain for sex work by taking a step further in investigating the lives and individual choices of their characters to challenge normative perceptions and create lasting, meaningful art. Read More...
