Brittle Paper
{{Short description|Online literary magazine}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox magazine|
title=Brittle Paper
|image_file=Brittle Paper logo.png
|image_size=171px
|image_caption=
|frequency=Weekly
|language=English
|category=Literature, art, culture, interviews
|company=
|editor=Ainehi Edoro
|editor_title=Editor-in-Chief
|publisher=Ainehi Edoro
|firstdate=August 1, 2010
|country=United States
|based=Chicago
|website=[http://www.brittlepaper.com/ www.brittlepaper.com]
|issn=
}}
Brittle Paper is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene."{{Cite news|url=http://brittlepaper.com/about/|title=About|work=Brittle Paper|access-date= February 26, 2017|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=http://woman.ng/2015/05/the-leading-woman-ainehi-edoro-her-philosophy-her-army-of-african-writers-on-brittle-paper/|title=The Leading Woman: AINEHI EDORO – Her Philosophy & Her Army Of African Writers On Brittle Paper|website=woman.ng|language=en-US|date=May 5, 2015|access-date=February 26, 2017|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810164644/http://woman.ng/2015/05/the-leading-woman-ainehi-edoro-her-philosophy-her-army-of-african-writers-on-brittle-paper/|url-status=dead}} It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral student from Duke University, now an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison). Since its founding in 2010, Brittle Paper has published fiction, poetry, essays, creative nonfiction and photography from both established and upcoming African writers and artists in the continent and around the world. A member of The Guardian Books Network,{{cite web |title=Brittle Paper – Books| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/brittle-paper |website=The Guardian |accessdate= February 2, 2019}} it has been described as "the village square of African literature",{{cite web |last1=Udenwe |first1=Obinna |title=The Rise of Brittle Paper: The Village Square of African Literature |url=https://www.villagesquarejournal.com/2018/02/13/the-rise-of-brittle-paper-the-village-square-of-african-literature/ |website=The Village Square Journal |accessdate= February 2, 2019}} as "Africa's leading literary journal", and as "one of Africa's most on the ball and talked-about literary publications".{{cite news |title=Changes to MMF Judging Panel |url=https://milesmorlandfoundation.com/changes-to-mmf-judging-panel/ |accessdate=20 August 2019 |publisher=Miles Morland Foundation |date=1 May 2019}} In 2014, the magazine was named a "Go-To Book Blog" by Publishers Weekly, who described it as "an essential source of news about new work by writers of color outside of the United States."{{cite web |first=Sarah J. |last=Robbins |title=The Go-To Book Bloggers |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20140519/62334-the-go-to-book-bloggers.html |website=Publishers Weekly |date=May 16, 2014|access-date= February 2, 2019}}
Founding and features
According to its founding editor, the magazine began as an outlet for her postgraduate work at Duke University.{{Cite news|url=http://www.africanwriter.com/interview-with-ainehi-edoro-founder-of-brittlepaper-com/|title=Interview with Ainehi Edoro, Founder of BrittlePaper.com |date=February 17, 2015|first=Sola|last=Osofisan|work=AfricanWriter.com|access-date=February 26, 2017|language=en-US}} The site was run out of her private finances. Edoro said: "I wanted Brittle Paper to be this place where lifestyle and literature intersected. I wanted to create a space for African literature that was chill and fun, that wasn’t preachy and had a little bit of everything for everybody. For me, Brittle Paper was about thinking about how African literature intersected with so many different spheres."{{Cite web|url=http://thestylehq.com/brittlepaper/|title=Need To Know - How Ainehi Edoro of Brittle Paper Is Redefining The African Literary Experience - The Style HQ|website=thestylehq.com|language=en-US|access-date=February 26, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024947/http://thestylehq.com/brittlepaper/|url-status=dead}}
The site eventually featured news and views about contemporary African literature. Edoro describes it as "a literary project designed to adapt African literary culture to this new reality of speculative writing--fantasy, science fiction-- but also in experimental narratives, pulp-fiction, and other off-beat genres."{{Cite web|url=http://www.herald.co.zw/online-the-home-of-new-african-literature/|title=Online, the home of new African literature {{!}} The Herald|website=www.herald.co.zw|language=en-US|first=Christopher Farai|last=Charamba|date=January 16, 2017|access-date=February 26, 2017}} In 2020, the Nigerian writer and journalist Otosirieze Obi-Young, who had been serving as deputy editor departed the blog.{{Cite web|url=https://brittlepaper.com/2020/04/statement-on-the-departure-of-brittle-papers-former-deputy-editor/|title=Statement on the Departure of Brittle Paper's Former Deputy Editor|first=Ainehi|last=Edoro|date=April 15, 2020|website=Brittle Paper|access-date=April 26, 2020}}[http://brittlepaper.com/tag/otosirieze-obi-young/ TAG ARCHIVES: OTOSIRIEZE OBI-YOUNG], Brittle Paper.
Evolution and place in African literary conversations
Brittle Paper publishes original content submitted by authors, as well as commissioned reviews, interviews, essays, and other literary work. Having grown into "a thriving community of readers and writers interested in everything about African literature",{{Cite web|url=http://thestylehq.com/brittlepaper/|title=Need To Know – How Ainehi Edoro of Brittle Paper Is Redefining The African Literary Experience – The Style HQ|website=thestylehq.com|language=en-US|date=January 28, 2017|access-date=February 26, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024947/http://thestylehq.com/brittlepaper/|url-status=dead}} the blog is regarded as a major publicity platform for new books by African writers.
Since 2015, Brittle Paper has recognized an African Literary Person of the Year, with the inaugural award going to Nigerian sci-fi novelist Nnedi Okorafor.Edoro, Einehi, [http://brittlepaper.com/2015/12/revealed-brittle-papers-african-literary-person-year-2/ "Nnedi Okorafor Is Brittle Paper’s African Literary Person of the Year 2015"], Brittle Paper, December 14, 2015. The 2016 award went to Zimbabwean novelist Petina Gappah,Edoro, Einehi, [http://brittlepaper.com/2016/12/2016-brittle-paper-african-literary-person-year/ "Petina Gappah Is Brittle Paper’s African Literary Person of the Year 2016"], Brittle Paper, December 19, 2016. and the 2017 award to the Nigerian writer and organiser Lola Shoneyin.Edoro, Einehi, [https://brittlepaper.com/2017/12/lola-shoneyin-2017-brittle-paper-person-year/ "Lola Shoneyin Is Brittle Paper’s African Literary Person of the Year 2017"], Brittle Paper, December 30, 2017. In 2018, the award went to the publisher Bibi Bakare-Yusuf of Cassava Republic Press.Edoro, Einehi, [https://brittlepaper.com/2018/12/the-2018-brittle-paper-african-literary-person-of-the-year-is-bibi-bakare-yusuf/ "Bibi Bakare-Yusuf Is Brittle Paper’s African Literary Person of the Year 2018"], Brittle Paper, December 22, 2018.
In August 2017, the blog launched the Brittle Paper Awards.Edoro, Einehi, [http://brittlepaper.com/2017/08/announcing-brittle-paper-literary-awards-shortlists/ "Announcing The Inaugural Brittle Paper Awards: The Five Shortlists"], Brittle Paper, August 23, 2017. The awards are given in five categories: short prose fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, essays/think pieces, and an Anniversary Award. It is the first literary awards in Africa to be run by a magazine and without corporate support.
In a 2017 The Afrovibe profile, novelist Obinna Udenwe notes:
While we acknowledge the rise in literary platforms since 2010, we haven’t seen one that equals Brittle Paper in style, creativity, innovation, richness of content, flexibility of the website and in giving room for whoever that is a writer to share their works and have a space to interact with the larger literary community. Brittle Paper{{'}}s ideas [do] not just help build the African literary tradition, [it] sets its foundation on a solid rock and gathers all classes of people who are needed to sustain the tradition and safe-guard it.
Censorship controversy
In April 2020, the deputy editor of Brittle Paper, Otosirieze Obi-Young, stopped working for the publication over an internal editorial dispute. Official statements are unclear and differ as to whether he quit or was fired.{{Cite web|url=https://otosirieze.com/statement-on-leaving-brittle-paper/|title=Statement on Leaving Brittle Paper|author=Otosirieze|
date=April 15, 2020|work=Otosirieze}} The dispute revolved around potential edits to a story about Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, a novelist and wife of Kaduna state governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. The governor's wife had responded to a comment calling her attention to her son's threat of sexual violence against a Twitter user during an argument on the social network, by saying: "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. All is fair in love and war."{{Cite web|url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/387581-outrage-as-el-rufais-son-threatens-to-gang-rape-twitter-users-mother.html|title=Outrage as El-Rufai's son threatens to gang rape Twitter user's mother|website=Premium Times|first=Samuel|last=Ogundipe|date=April 13, 2020}} Hadiza El-Rufai later apologized, claiming a misunderstanding.{{Cite web|url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/387730-hadiza-el-rufai-apologises-denounces-sons-pro-rape-tweet.html|title=Hadiza El-Rufai apologises, denounces son's pro-rape Tweet|website=Premium Times|first=Samuel|last=Ogundipe|date=April 13, 2020}}
According to Edoro, the Brittle Paper post, written and published by Obi-Young without her vetting, contained language that was "histrionic, inflammatory, even melodramatic and totally not in keeping with the seriousness of the matter" and did not meet the site's editorial standard. She also pointed out "potentially libelous reference to two Nigerian newspapers."
These and the disagreement over how to handle the publication of the story, which was eventually taken down, led to the exit of Obi-Young, the deputy editor. In his statement, he lamented a "censorship (that) goes against everything that the platform has demonstrated in the past and that I believe it should continue to stand for.
References
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