The African Gaze: Essays on Culture and Society—Past, Present and Future

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

Edwin OkoloMay 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.

April/May 2023NigeriaReading

A Captivating Debut on Self-Discovery Book Review: Maame by Jessica George

Peace OnafuyeApril 28, 2023

Maame, a novel by Jessica George, is an intense yet uplifting journey towards self-discovery. The novel carefully explores what it means to find one’s true self and how to deal with grief.

April/May 2023GhanaReading

‘I Love an Underdog Story’ Celeste Mohammed’s First Draft

Celeste MohammedApril 28, 2023

Trinidadian author, Celeste Mohammed, started writing Pleasantview to meet the demands of her MFA program.

April/May 2023First DraftInterviews

First Marathon Olympic Champion Sifan Hassan Won the London Marathon on Her First Attempt

Sinmiloluwa SowandeApril 26, 2023

Hassan came into the London Marathon as an underdog. She had never run a marathon, never raced on asphalt, and had never drunk fluids while completing a road race. Hassan trained for the marathon while observing the month-long fast of Ramadan, which restricted her from running lengthy distances as she was unable to eat or drink during the day.

AfricaApril/May 2023

Resisting Linguistic Genocide How Colonization Shaped Language in Guinea-Bissau

Jamila PereiraApril 26, 2023

Colonization was an enterprise that not only administratively dominated the colonized territories by having exploited its resources illegitimately and illegally. In Guinea-Bissau as in other formerly colonized regions, colonization was, above all, also an act of cultural alienation of the natives, who saw their traditions belittled and ridiculed, their history suspended, and their languages the preserve of the most uneducated.

AfricaApril/May 2023Guinea-Bissau

‘Let the Data Guide You’ Zainab Usman’s First Draft

Zainab UsmanApril 21, 2023

Nigerian author, Zainab Usman, believes the task of economic diversification is Nigeria’s foremost development challenge.

April/May 2023First DraftInterviewsNigeriavol7-no2

Beyond Charity Rethinking Hunger Relief in Nigeria

Ayoola OladipupoApril 20, 2023

Abundant research shows that investing in adequate nutrition is one of the best value-for-money development actions, but food security is neither seen as a catalyst for economic development nor a right Nigerians are entitled to.

April/May 2023Nigeria

In the Company of Women On Writing and Reading Women as Historical Actors

Peace OnafuyeApril 17, 2023

Celebrating women should extend to the kinds of stories we tell about women. These stories should reflect the diversity of their lived experiences, the multiplicity of their work, and the varying ways women express their individual thoughts and perspectives.

April/May 2023Nigeria

What is Special Hair? A Black Woman’s Complicated Hair Journey

Izehi AmadasuApril 14, 2023

Irrespective of what anyone thinks, I have decided that the hair I was born with—this coarse, springy, dark hair that grows towards the sun—is special, not because of its length, thickness, texture, or any reason other than because it is my hair and I have decided to love it.

April/May 2023NigeriaThe Black Atlantic

On Laboma Beach, the Party Continues Detty December, the Year of Return and a New Era of Africa-Diaspora Relations

Tomisin OgunsanyaApril 12, 2023

The unique pleasures of the Year of Return and Detty December highlight the evolving relationship between Africa and its global diaspora and the need to sustain this growing bond.

AfricaApril/May 2023Nigeria