Griots Lounge Canada

02/07/2025

Welcome to the first show of 2025! Our Publisher, Bibi Ukonu, presents the first two books of the year, ‘African Urban Echoes: A Poetry Anthology’, edited by Jide Salawu and Rasaq Malik Gbolahan, and ‘Wish Maker’ by Uchechukwu Umezurike. Fantastic books!

Order from your favourite bookstore.

02/04/2025

It promises to be amazing! Be there!

01/15/2025

It’s Pub Day!

African Urban Echoes: A Poetry Anthology

Edited by and

African Urban Echoes is a gathering of poets in and out of Africa!

Order now from all retail outlets.

12/21/2024

Amazing poetry to start the year with!

African Urban Echoes

An anthology of poetry by 54 outstanding poets from across Africa and in the diaspora. Featuring award winning Canadian poets such as James Yékú, Jumoke Verissimo, Tolu Oloruntoba and Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike. Edited by Jide Salawu and Rasaq Malik.

Preorder Now!

Out on January 15, 2025

12/17/2024

Out in Canada and the US on January 31st, 2025!

The 2024 Nigeria Prize for Literature Finalist

Wish Maker
by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike

Published by Nwata (an imprint of Griots Lounge Publishing Canada)
Ebele wishes he and his widowed mother would have a memorable Christmas with lots of presents. With his mother barely able to afford food and his friends mocking him, Ebele is afraid that he might not get any presents at all. When a strange man comes to town, Ebele opens his heart and home reluctantly. In return, the stranger teaches him there is more to Christmas than just gifts and that kindness is a virtue rewarded by great fortune.

11/22/2024

Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays (Nonfiction/Essays) by .james will be out on Nov. 26, 2024.

Preorder Now!

About the Book:

In Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays, James Yeku speaks powerfully from his personal experiences as a writer and academic living outside a homeland he sometimes recaptures through his poetry and scholarship. His encounters in several cities around the world, and in different cultural and media contexts offer an entry into the ways in which we produce collective meanings from the private notes we write to ourselves. Poignant yet exciting, the essays in the collection move in different and unruly directions: while some mourn both the diaspora-imposed loss of books that immigrant scholars often face, and the devastating disappearance of an uncle who travelled to Europe through the Sahara, other pieces reflect on a persistently stereotypic image of Africa, soccer and racial politics, and Nigerian social media cultures.

11/12/2024

Funded by the Manitoba Arts Council, Griots Lounge Publishing Canada is poised to showcase a new form of the media which focuses on topics around African and African-Canadian literatures, arts activities around Manitoba, Canada and the world in general.

Cofounders, Bibi Ukonu and Jide Aluka will be anchoring the best parts of podcasts and vlogs, with interesting features of various artists around the world.

Bibi Ukonu will be hosting The Bison Show, which showcases a podcast on diaspora literature, Griots Lounge Canada books, and book events in Manitoba and Canada in general.

Jide Aluka will be hosting interviews and talk shows which will be geared towards exposing young talents in Nigeria. Jide will also be visiting festivals and book events.

Please subscribe and click on the notification for regular updates.

https://www.youtube.com/

11/12/2024

Funded by the Manitoba Arts Council , Griots Lounge Publishing Canada is poised to showcase a new form of the media which focuses on topics around African and African-Canadian literatures, arts activities around Manitoba, Canada and the world in general.

Cofounders, Bibi Ukonu and Jide Aluka will be anchoring the best parts of podcasts and vlogs, with interesting features of various artists around the world.

Bibi Ukonu will be hosting The Bison Show, which showcases a podcast on diaspora literature, Griots Lounge Canada books, and book events in Manitoba and Canada in general.

Jide Aluka will be hosting interviews and talk shows which will be geared towards exposing young talents in Nigeria. Jide will also be visiting festivals and book events.

Please subscribe and click on the notification for regular updates.

https://www.youtube.com/

Welcome to The Griots Show with Bibi & Jide!Thanks to the Manitoba Arts Council / Conseil des arts du Manitoba for funding our dream of promoting literature ...

09/15/2024

Cover reveal for the 2004 bestseller - ‘By His Grace: An Anthology of Awesome Testimonies’ (second edition) by Sydney Ukonu.

Pre-order link out soon!

08/22/2024

A Place Beyond the Heart (short stories) by Irehobhude O. Iyioha, now available in Canada, the United States and Nigeria.

Please, grab your copies of this amazing collection.

Seizes the reader from the first story and draws them into the urgency of a conflicted world… a world on the verge of an uncertain future.
– Emily Paskevics, award-winning author of Notes on a Wild Encounter.

07/22/2024

Shortlisted for the 2024 Fred Kerner Book Award, by the

Sons of the East (a novel)
by Ifeoma Chinwuba

07/17/2024

Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays, by .james, is one of Africa’s favourite book covers of 2024! -

https://brittlepaper.com/2024/07/our-african-book-covers-of-2024-so-far/?

07/13/2024

Title: Sons of the East
Author: Ifeoma Chinwuba
Genre: Fiction
Price: N8,000

Available now in Nigeria!
🇳🇬
Abuja: Roving Heights Bookstore
Lagos: Roving Heights Bookstore
Port Harcourt: Bookville World

07/05/2024

Cover Reveal!

Title: Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays
Author: James Yékú
Genre: Nonfiction/Essays
Pub Date: November 2024

Description:

In Ambivalent Encounters and Other Essays, James Yékú speaks powerfully from his personal experiences as a writer and academic living outside a homeland he sometimes recaptures through his poetry and scholarship. His encounters in several cities around the world, and in different cultural and media contexts offer an entry into the ways in which we produce collective meanings from the private notes we write to ourselves. Poignant yet exciting, the essays in the collection move in different and unruly directions: while some mourn both the diaspora-imposed loss of books that immigrant scholars often face, and the devastating disappearance of an uncle who travelled to Europe through the Sahara, other pieces reflect on a persistently stereotypic image of Africa, soccer and racial politics, and Nigerian social media cultures.

Review:

“A collection of essays that illuminates the connection between wisdom, keen observation, and a sense of wonder. Moving seamlessly between familial memories, urban observations, and personal reflections on social, political and artistic conflicts, Yékú once again demonstrates his intellectual acuity and unwavering commitment to seeing beyond the surface of what others often overlook.” - Jumoke Verissimo, author of A Small Silence

06/14/2024

Cover Art Reveal!

Title: Dear Algorithm: The Wed Luck Show
Author: Michael Afenfia

Pub Date: April, 2025

Order link to be announced soon!

About the book:

Two sisters living in two different cities, one in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and the other in Saskatoon, Canada have big announcements to make to their parents about marriage and finding love. While the older sister, Mondi appeared unsure of where she stood between convention and what she desired, her younger sister Yola was all set for an extreme adventure that threatened to tear their family apart.

Set mostly in Nigeria, Dear Algorithm: The Wed Luck Show tells the story of a family that must decide whether to uphold traditional values or accept that the happiness of one or all trumps longstanding society values every time.

05/31/2024

A Place Beyond the Heart (stories)
by Irehobhude O. Iyioha

July 2024 (Griots Lounge Canada)

Out this summer! Preorder from anywhere in the world, including Canada, US, UK and Nigeria, this summer!

Thanks to for their generous support!