Arts/Culture

“The work itself is a study in how the ideology of the novel works, I think.”  —Akin Adeṣọkan, 2013.  Chief Isaac Delano was one of the most important Yorùbá writers of the 20th century. The ‘Chief’ in his title and the spelling of his surname “Delano” may carry American echoes but they are emphatically African. […]

On December 29, 2024, OlongoAfrica hosted a highly anticipated holiday screening of Ebrohimie Road: A Museum of Memory at the J.Randle Centre in Onikan, Lagos. The film, which premiered in July 2024 as part of events to mark Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday has had a global tour, screening in London, Mexico, and parts of the […]

OlongoAfrica is offering long-term and short-term opportunities to support quality research and writing on the history, politics, and influence of the Black Orpheus journal and the Mbari Club generation. We are offering both in-person fellowships on the ground in Lagos Nigeria, as well as remote fellowships in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world involving independent […]

Foluso Agbaje’s remarkable debut, The Parlour Wife, is likely the first novel many will read that focuses on the impact of the Second World War on an African population, with African characters squarely at its centre, and by an African author. The main setting is Lagos, the coastal city that was at the heart of […]

One of the critical comments on humour I often return is Humour, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria of the foremost Nigerian critic, Ebenezer Obadare. Obadare showcases critically how the work of humor is central to the understanding of Nigerian society. He explores how humour by cartoonists, dramatists, and stand up figures power resistance through […]

Please join us from October 31 to November 3 at ART X Lagos for the unveiling of Black Orpheus Exploration Project our year-long project to explore, examine, and engage with the legacy of Black Orpheus to African literature, art, and culture production. Read more about the project here. The ART X Exhibition, featuring a few […]

August, 2024 OlongoAfrica.com presents a year-long project to explore the legacy of the Black Orpheus journal on literature and culture documentation around the African continent. The Black Orpheus Journal of African and Afro-American Literature was first published between 1957 and 1975. It was founded by Ulli Beier, a German-Jewish expatriate whose work in the arts […]

In my last review of a Nollywood film—C.J. Fiery Obasi’s Mami Wata (2022)—I submitted that to criticise Nollywood, demanding range from our directors, is to build a reputation as a serial complainer. As a principle, I believe in edification than putdown criticism as the former helps us understand the underlying issues of craft better, more […]

Lydia’s statement close to the end of the book carries the weight of the novel: I’m here to tell you that happiness is possible, again, Lydia says, And I hope that you find happiness again. If anything is to be said about the strength of Olukorede Yishau’s third book, it may be the sure presence […]

In the evening of 12 September 2023, social media was awash with what was thought to be a wild rumor. Afrobeats star, Ilerioluwa Promise Aloba was claimed to have died. Within hours, it went quickly from rumor to fact: Mohbad was dead. Before his demise at 27, he was most popular for his  smash hit, […]