Your go-to site for African writing and literary culture. We bring you all the latest news on publications, authors, events, prizes, and lifestyle.
Joined July 2010
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24 Dec 2025
✨ BP 100 Notable African Books of 2025 are here! 🎉
27 countries. New voices. Romance speculative fiction on the rise. African & indie publishers leading the way. In spite of all the challenges, the culture is doing more than just okay👏🏿 Full list 👇📚 brittlepaper.com/100-notable…
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Jun 14
Osvalde Lewat won three major prizes for THE AQUATICS before English-language readers could get their hands on it. Now, translated by Maren Baudet-Lackner and published by Coffee House Press and @CassavaRepublic, the wait is over! 📖✨ @LewatOsvalde brittlepaper.com/2026/06/pea…
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Jun 12
The children of a rainmaker, orphaned and bound to each other, set on paths that span Nigeria, the US, and Italy. Chinelo Okparanta’s THIS IMPOSSIBLE LIFE arrives November 10 from @MarinerBooks. Her most personal novel yet ✍🏾📖 brittlepaper.com/2026/06/chi…
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Jun 12
“I have been waiting my entire career to publish full on fantasy.” Akwaeke Emezi’s ECLIPSE & THE WOLF arrives February 2, 2027 from Harper Voyager. Prepare for a dark epic fantasy of rival clans, devastating betrayals, and brutal power struggles 🥀🌒 brittlepaper.com/2026/06/new…
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Jun 11
A new national poetry prize has arrived in Nigeria. POPALS is asking poets aged 12 to 35 to imagine “The Nigeria of Our Dreams,” with ₦2,000,000 in prizes. Submissions open June 10 to 24 🖋️💭 brittlepaper.com/2026/06/nig…₦1000000-each-submit-by-june-24/
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Jun 11
Professor Okey Ndibe was detained for over three hours by the DSS at Lagos airport, a recurrence stemming from a decades-old military-era watchlist. The literary community has responded with one voice. “Ndo. Welcome home.” brittlepaper.com/2026/06/i-a…
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Jun 10
Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s BLESSINGS, in Dutch translation as ZEGENINGEN, is nominated for the Netherlands’ Beste Boek voor Jongeren 2026. The winner will be chosen entirely by a jury of teenage readers and announced Sept. 20 🏆 Congratulations @ChukwuebukaIbe4 ! brittlepaper.com/2026/06/chu…
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Jun 10
The 8th African Book Festival Berlin wrapped this weekend after three days of panels, screenings, book clubs, and poetry at tak Kreuzberg. This year’s programme was shaped by open calls and public voting, a festival built by its own community 📖🎤 brittlepaper.com/2026/06/pic…
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Petina Gappah is the 2026 recipient of the Flora Nwapa Literary Society Award. “I’m honoured to be given an award that honours the first African woman ever published.” Congratulations @VascoDaGappah ! brittlepaper.com/2026/06/i-s…
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“Done well, with integrity and the celebration of writers at the centre of all, prizes provide an archive of our culture/s, a chance to introduce new voices, and an opportunity for the judges to curate a reading list that will extend the reach of the work.” - Ellah Wakatama
Jun 8
With over 25 years of experience as a publisher, Ellah Wakatama OBE is our Chair of Judges for the 2026 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize. Read our Q&A with her on our website, discussing the role of prizes in the current literary landscape and more.
buff.ly/bYtoZOX
ALT Photo of Ellah Wakatama. She is a Black woman with a chin-length parted afro. She wears a dark blue denim shirt and a colourful scarf. She is seated in front of bookshelves. At the top of the photo in white is text which reads: 'A Sense of Meaning': Q&A with Ellah Wakatama
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.@CassavaRepublic Press wants your best Literary Fiction and Speculative Fiction manuscripts by June 30. The press behind THE MERCY STEP is looking for new, imaginative writing that reflects the best of what the Black world has to offer ✍🏾✨ brittlepaper.com/2026/06/cas…
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Sudanese-American novelist Fatin Abbas is bringing GHOST SEASON to the UK this June for a five-stop paperback tour, with events in Brighton, Sevenoaks, and London. Catch her from June 20 to 27! 📚🖋️ brittlepaper.com/2026/06/sud…
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BRITTLE PAPER retweeted
Thank you, @brittlepaper
Excerpt: Sea Stories and Other Poems from Contraband Bodies by Jide Salawu brittlepaper.com/2026/06/exc…
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BRITTLE PAPER retweeted
“One of the things that intrigue me whenever reading work by diasporic writers is that they are drawing from the same epistemological space as the African writers on the continent.” — Goretti Kyomuhendo (via @brittlepaper)
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The 2026 @WasafiriMag New Writing Prize is open for fiction, poetry, and life writing. No nationality restrictions. Winners receive £1,000 and publication in Wasafiri. Submit by June 30! 🖋️ brittlepaper.com/2026/06/the…
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Saraba Magazine has opened two submission calls: new unpublished work due June 30, and the Revival Project, which is reclaiming African writing buried in defunct journals and print-only archives 🗞️ @Sarabamag
brittlepaper.com/2026/06/sar…
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Jun 4
Go read @Maenad20's critical review of Oyin Braithwaite's latest, Cursed Daughters out from @brittlepaper. The Nigerian literary ecosystem needs more honest, critical reviews of books, and this is one of them.
See here:
brittlepaper.com/2026/06/the…
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throwback to our launch party : ) Brittle Paper will forever be known in history as a pivotal part of documenting and archiving within the African literary scene/space.
30 Jan 2025
Last month @NoisyStreetss hosted a launch party at @TheFreeMeSpace1 for their debut anthology A MAN AND A WOMAN & OTHER STORIES 🎉
A platform amplifying young African voices, Noisy Streetss celebrated with music, performances, and more! See highlights 👇
brittlepaper.com/2025/01/lov…
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Nigerian writers took home three Locus Awards in one night. @Nnedi Okorafor won Best Science Fiction Novel and Best Illustrated Book. @somto_Ihezue won Best Novelette. Nigeria showed up 🏆✨ brittlepaper.com/2026/06/nne…
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.@MajestyAfrica_ has launched a fully funded four-week residency for emerging women writers without literary representation from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. Applications are due June 22! 👩🏾💻 brittlepaper.com/2026/06/app…
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BRITTLE PAPER retweeted
So True!
“I genuinely think that book influencers are, to some extent, shouldering the work of marketing in Nigeria today.” @IkechukwuChielo makes the case for book influencing as a serious literary practice in our latest interview. 🎙️
brittlepaper.com/2026/06/boo…
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