Moonbeam’: Short story anthology by 15 culture journalists hits bookshelves, festival circuits

A new book, Moonbeam: An Anthology of Short Stories by Nigeria’s Foremost Culture Journalists, has hit book shelves across Nigeria. Published by Narrative Landscape Press, one of the innovative independent publishing houses in Nigeria and now in Kenya, Moonbeam is a testament to the creative genius of work-a-day culture journalists, who have shown through their works that beyond reporting culture events, they can hold their own creatively any day. Anote Ajeluorou, a former Arts Editor of The Guardian and publisher of TheArtHubNg, an online arts and culture platform, is the editor of the anthology.

Arguably the first anthology by such a group anywhere in the world by 15 seasoned culture journalists, it made its first panel session conversation outing on October 4, 2025 at Quramo Festival of Words (QFest) 2025 held at Eko Hotel and Suites. Contributors to Moonbeam include the likes of Sam Omatseye, chairman, Editorial Board, The Nation Newspaper, who doubles as the chairman; Adeniyi Kunu, senior broadcast journalist and trainer at Lagos Talk FM 91.3; Okechukwu Uwaezuoke, deputy editor, ThisDay Newspaper; Terh Agbedeh, editor, thisislagos.ng and thelagosreview.ng, and Henry Akubuiro, deputy editor, The Sun Newspaper.

Others are: Jahman Anikulapo, former Arts Editor and Editor of The Guardian on Sunday; Toni Kan, publisher, thisislagos.ng and thelagosreview.ng; Molara Wood, formerly with The Guardian and defunct Next234.com; Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, former Arts Editor of Daily Trust; Nehru Odeh, editor, TheNews and PMNews; Evelyn Osagie (rest her soul) of The Nation; Sumaila Isa Umaisha, former Arts Editor of Blueprint newspaper; Greg Nwakunor, deputy editor of The Guardian, and Akeem Lasisi, former Arts Editor of The Punch, publisher of online platform, Phenomenon and oral performance poet,. Interestingly, these 15 culture journalists are united in their singular passion for curating stories in over 40 years of culture journalism in Nigeria, contributing to enriching this culturally defining work.

Read also: Collecting Now 2: Honouring Nigeria’s cultural custodians at YSMA

Moonbeam has been hailed as a bold cultural offering by a significant segment of Nigeria’s culture community. Even before the book arrived bookshelves, it had a powerful presence at the Quramo Festival of Words (QFest 2025) early October with a panel on the ‘Place of Anthologies in a Book Ecosystem,’ with contributors like Akubuiro, Agbedeh, Uwaezuoke and Omatseye, with the editor, Ajeluorou moderating. Next month at Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) 2025 on November 14, 2025 at 4.00pm at Freedom Park and ‘Moonbeam: Interrogating the Intersection of Journalism and Creative Storytelling’ as the interesting theme some of the anthology’s contributors will be speaking to at Lagos Fringe Festival on November 19, 2025 by 11.00am—1.00pm at Esther’s Revenge Lounge, Freedom Park.

Prospectively, Alliance Francaise and Goethe Institut are other venues ‘Moonbeam’ will enjoy a presence in book chat sessions. Copies will also be available for purchase at these festivals and prime venues, just as readers can now walk into any major bookshop in Nigeria and purchase copies and also from Narrative Landscape Press office at 1B Olatunde Ayoola Avenue, Behind Mobile Filling Station, Obanikoro, near Anthony Village, Lagos. Copies are also available on Amazon.

According to Ajeluorou, “Moonbeam is a victory for culture reporting in Nigeria, and hopefully, elsewhere, too. Of course, culture reporters are also published novelists, playwrights and poets world wide like those we have here in our midst like Lasisi (Night of My Flight, among others), Kan (The Carnivorous City, among others), Ibrahim (When We Were Fireflies, among others), Omatseye (Juju Eyes, among others), Wood (Indigo), Akubuiro (Yamtarawala: The Warrior King, among others), Ajeluorou (Igho Goes to Farm, among others), and so on. So, there is nothing new about culture reporters publishing creative works. But to do so in an anthology is new and different. It is innovative.

“And this is where we owe a debt of immense gratitude to our dear Evelyn Osagie, who gave birth to this noble idea, but who didn’t live to see a copy of it before she joined the stars in heaven. But we’re comforted that through Moonbeam we will continue to celebrate her fervent imagination. Moonbeam is therefore dedicated to Osagie and all those who dream new things into being!”

Picture caption:

Some of the contributors: Terh Agbedeh (left); Anote Ajeluorou (editor) and Nehru Odeh at Narrative Landscape Press office in Lagos.