Isele Magazine was founded in July 2020 by Nigerian novelist Ukamaka Olisakwe.[3]
In an interview with Open Country Mag, she explained that the magazine is a tribute to late grandmother, alias 'Isele Nwanyi', who was a dancer and a performance poet.[4]
The magazine published its first issue in July 2020 and made a call for submissions, inviting "writers and artists who hold a mirror to our society, who challenge conventional expectations about ways of being, how to be, and who decides who should be."[5]
In October 2021, the magazine published a call for The Woman Issue, seeking submissions that "subvert the tropes and narratives associated with and definitive of womanhood."[6][7]
