On Sun Sherif: Black Sherif's Short Songs, Long Feelings
In six brief tracks, Black Sherif moves from doubt to gratitude to devotion, rarely stopping long enough to complicate any of them, but the feeling still lands.
Culture
Tolu Oloruntoba, Othuke Umukoro and Lorna Goodison named Derek Walcott Prize finalists
Two Nigerian poets and Jamaican writer Lorna Goodison are among 15 finalists for the 2026 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry.
Who Decides Which African Stories Get to Travel? Start With the Caine Shortlist
This year's five shortlisted stories arrived through five very different publishing routes, which may say more about African literary infrastructure than the five countries on the list do.
Nineteen Women, Five Countries: Gathered Seams Brings Southern African Voices Together
The new anthology from Modjaji Books brings together poets from Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa, creating a cross-border conversation about women’s lives and the region’s changing literary landscape.
Koleka Putuma Named Featured Poet as Poetry Africa Turns 30
The selection reflects the breadth of Putuma’s work, which has moved between poetry, theatre and children’s literature while repeatedly returning to questions of religion, memory, identity and cultural inheritance.
More from Culture
Blessing Musariri Emerges as the Only African Finalist for the $50,000 Kirkus Prize
For Musariri, the nomination puts When It’s Your Turn for Midnight before a large American literary audience less than six months after its U.S. publication.
Black British Book Festival Returns to Barbican for Fifth Edition
The fifth edition of the festival will bring more than 80 authors and cultural figures to London for a day spanning literature, music, poetry, science and publishing.
2026 Nommo Awards shortlist announced
Nnedi Okorafor and T.L. Huchu receive two nominations each as the African Speculative Fiction Society announces its 2026 shortlist.
Zaki Amujei Steps Out From Behind the Boards
Best known for producing records for other artistes, Zaki Amujei takes the lead on For the Ones I Hurt, an eight-track EP that finds him balancing romance, vulnerability and the occasional party turn.
Linda Ikeji’s The Night of June 7th release put on hold by NFVCB
Linda Ikeji’s film about the 2005 Apo Six killings has had its cinema release suspended by the NFVCB, with the movie now under review by the DSS.
Eze, Ifowodo and Oburumu Reach Final Stage of $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature
James Ngwu Eze, Ogaga Ifowodo and Tares Oburumu are the finalists for the 2026 prize, which is dedicated to poetry.
Season of the Serpent: The World Does Not Need Saving
Suyi Davies Okungbowa closes The Nameless Republic trilogy with a question sharper than who wins the war: what happens when the people who broke a world are the ones left to rebuild it.