Comedy is booming in Nigeria, having morphed from a side hustle in the mid-nineties to a serious, full-fledged business. But as with most male-dominated fields, the country's comedy scene has a misogyny problem.
Read More
Life is going according to plan for Efuru until an accident leaves her hospitalised days before her fiftieth birthday. But just as she prepares to submit to fate, Efuru gets a sweet surprise.
Read More
At age 14, Joseph and a group of friends founded a school to provide education to children in Uganda’s Kyangwali Camp. The school has since supported over 1000 pupils through primary school, 700 through secondary and seen some of its graduates enroll in universities around the world.
Read More
Thirty-five years after Chinua Achebe published The Trouble with Nigeria, Nigeria continues to grapple with the same problems enumerated in his essay, thanks to poor leadership.
Read More
Elnathan John’s debut novel is a coming-of-age story set in northern Nigeria. Its simple, unembellished prose is narrated by Dantala, the smart, inquisitive street kid and Islamic scholar, and presents a convincing picture of how poverty, corruption and brutality perpetrated by security forces have bred disaffection and insurgency groups in the country.
Read More
The Indian Ocean city of Dar es Salaam may be a stopover for tourists journeying ahead to Zanzibar—the quaint archipelago a flight or ferry away—or going on safaris to national parks. But there’s still plenty on offer if you have 24 hours to spare.
Read More
Okey Ndibe’s memoir derives its comical title from a string of advice an uncle had given Ndibe on the eve of his maiden voyage to America. “And the first thing to remember is this: Never look an American in the eye… They take it as an insult,” the uncle intones. “If they catch you, a stranger, looking them in the face, they will shoot.”
Read More
Womanhood is a confection of experiences, choices and a sense of being
Read More
I hate eulogies. Like political campaign speeches, they’re fancy, empty words seldom reflecting the true feelings of the speaker for the deceased. Why speak this flowery language to the dust if it was unspoken between breaths? Why compose beautiful odes to yesterdays that can’t be appreciated by the muse? We rely on the living for that.
Read More