Culture & Society
End NYSC Already
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) began as a conciliatory post-war programme aimed at nation-building. But now, it is a softer, but no less punitive drafting system with adverse consequences on young people and Nigeria’s finances. Read More...
7 African Books Every Food Lover Should Read
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven African books for every food lover. These books explore food across Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, Ethiopia, as well as the African diaspora. Read More...
‘I Know a Poem Is Complete When I Am Both Unsettled and at Peace’ Theresa Lola’s First Draft
Nigerian poet and author of In Search of Equilibrium, Theresa Lola, believes a poem is complete when she is both unsettled and at peace. Read More...
A Whirlwind of Fractured Sisterhood and Dysfunctional Families
In her second novel, Nightbloom, Peace Adzo Medie uses issues associated with womanhood and family dynamics to speak to larger societal issues in Ghana. Read More...
7 African Literary Classics You Should Add to Your Reading List
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven African literary classics you should add to your reading list. From the poignant exploration of post-colonial life to the intimate portrayal of personal struggles and triumphs, these books signify the essence of African storytelling. Read More...
‘Poetry Is Political’ Safia Elhillo’s First Draft
Sudanese poet, Safia Elhillo, feels very differently now about the idea of belonging than she did at the time of writing her award-winning collection, The January Children. Looking back, she was ‘so concerned with a sort of diasporic longing that centered nationhood and nationality as the primary sites of belonging, and I just really don’t believe that anymore.’ Read More...
‘We Were Once Girls’ 24 Books by African Women to Expect in 2024
2024 will be an exciting year for women in the African literary landscape. From Aiwanose Odafen to Namina Forna, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond to Olumide Popoola, this year promises an even more colourful look at the experiences, struggles and triumphs of African women. Read More...
‘I Am Drawn to Stories That Tackle Complicated Family Relationships’ Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond’s First Draft
Ghanaian writer and author of Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, says her children’s book was inspired by a Bible passage about the furnishings in King Solomon’s temple. Read More...
How Flavour Reinvented Highlife The Evolution of Highlife’s Most Enduring Artist
In his Igbocentric songs, Flaovur reflects the variant sides of Highlife. He’s been at every party and knows every expression. He represents the nascent era of modern Afropop and knows the language of the present one. He sings for your grandfather and your unborn kid. And still, he shows no signs of stopping. Read More...
A Peculiar People Christianity and Nigerian Public Life
Nothing was untouched by the practice of religion in Nigeria. You could not pour sand in your ears to drown out its demands. We carried on with the assumption that the spirit world was a place of dynamism where things happened before they reached our plane. I loved this about us... Yet I came to see how our approach to religion and spirituality wounded us. Read More...
