Issue 19 editorial

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Mazi Nwonwu
Mazi Nwonwu is the pen name of Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu, a Lagos-based journalist and writer. While journalism and its demands take up much of his time, when he can, Mazi Nwonwu writes speculative fiction, which he believes is a vehicle through which he can transport Africa’s diverse culture to the future. He is the co-founder of Omenana, an African-centrist speculative fiction magazine is a Senior Broadcast Journalist with BBC Igbo service. His work has appeared in Lagos 2060 (Nigeria’s first science fiction anthology), AfroSF (first PAN-African Science Fiction Anthology), Sentinel Nigeria, Saraba Magazine, ‘It Wasn’t Exactly Love’, an anthology on sex and sexuality publish by Farafina in 2015.

Omenana speculative fiction magazine issue 19 is live!

The words above may seem common enough for anyone who has not followed Omenana magazine’s journey since we launched in 2014.

It was a dream that became a reality and we are very happy to still be able to announce another edition of what has become a staple in Africa’s speculative fiction landscape.

We are also happy because publishing our third edition for 2021 in October means we can still publish a fourth for the year. Doing so allows us to reach an all-time high of four editions a year.

We are indeed clapping for ourselves and taking bows in recognition of this self-praise.

Don’t blame us, we are only reacting like the lizard in Igbo mythology that affirms the wondrous achievement of landing on all fours after jumping down from a great height.

Believe us, we have a lot to be proud about, chief of which is the fact that we are still here, offering opportunities to African writers of the speculative to showcase their work to a hopefully eager world.

This edition, like all the others before it, features great writing from writers from across the African continent and beyond. We have a handful of established names and several new names that we want you to pay close attention to because, like many of the new voices Omenana has introduced in the past, you will be seeing more of them.

We had planned for the 18th edition of Omenana magazine to be the last that will be offered free, but after much consideration, we have decided that reaching the African lover of speculative without any restriction is more important than monetary considerations. As such, this edition remains free to access, enjoy and share.

However, since we dearly want to continue renumerating our incredibly committed team and return to paying writers, you can support us via our Patreon page and allow us to do bigger things in 2021.

Also, this is the second edition in which we are offering French-language stories as part of our partnership with Omenana author Mame Diene. We had published French-language stories in the past, but this partnership has Mame sourcing for and editing these stories so that French-speaking speculative fiction writers can become a part of the Omenana conversation. We are hoping that this grows into a separate French-language magazine in the near future.

The stories in this edition are diverse, as is to be expected from a continent as diverse as Africa, and we do hope you enjoy them as much as we did selecting and editing them.

See you in December.

Mazi Nwonwu

Mazi Nwonwu
Mazi Nwonwu is the pen name of Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu, a Lagos-based journalist and writer. While journalism and its demands take up much of his time, when he can, Mazi Nwonwu writes speculative fiction, which he believes is a vehicle through which he can transport Africa’s diverse culture to the future. He is the co-founder of Omenana, an African-centrist speculative fiction magazine is a Senior Broadcast Journalist with BBC Igbo service. His work has appeared in Lagos 2060 (Nigeria’s first science fiction anthology), AfroSF (first PAN-African Science Fiction Anthology), Sentinel Nigeria, Saraba Magazine, ‘It Wasn’t Exactly Love’, an anthology on sex and sexuality publish by Farafina in 2015.