Open Country Mag
Nigerian magazine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Open Country Mag is a Nigerian magazine that covers African literature, the Nigerian film industry, and culture.[1] It was founded in 2020 by writer Otosirieze Obi-Young.[2]
| |
 Cover of September 2021 with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | |
| Editor-in-chief | Otosirieze Obi-Young |
|---|---|
| Categories | African literature, Nollywood, and culture |
| Frequency | Online weekly |
| First issue | 2020 |
| Country | Nigeria |
| Based in | Lagos |
| Language | English |
| Website | opencountrymag |
The magazine has been praised for "building a permanent record of African cultural figures through long-form storytelling."[3] The University of Maryland's Department of African and African American Studies has described it as "one of the most important and ambitious platforms for African writers."[4]
Features
Open Country Mag publishes culture journalism, commentary, book and film reviews, new writing, book excerpts, and is reputed for its longform profiles.[5] These include cover story features on writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wole Soyinka[6], Teju Cole, Damon Galgut, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Maaza Mengiste, and Chinelo Okparanta, and actor Rita Dominic.[7]
The publication Communique wrote:
Open Country Mag’s work carries a symbolic and practical significance. It shows what is possible when African publications commit to longform storytelling: that the continent’s writers, thinkers, and cultural figures can be chronicled with nuance, rigour, and ambition. Even if its model is difficult to replicate at scale today, it establishes a blueprint, a proof of concept if you may, that longform in Africa is not only feasible but essential for documenting the intellectual and cultural life of the continent.[8]
Contributors include Dangarembga, Leila Aboulela, Diriye Osman, Chibundu Onuzo, Jamal Mahjoub, and Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu.[9]
In March 2023, the magazine announced that it was now the publisher of Folio Nigeria,[10] a content platform that was the exclusive media affiliate of CNN in Africa.[11] The same year, it announced a fellowship for African curators.[12][13][14]