Ondo-based Okiti Literary, a biannual online journal, released its maiden issue in August 2025, marking its entry into Nigeria’s growing literary scene.
The debut edition showcases a rich mix of poetic voices from within and beyond the country. Featured poets include Olumide Manuel, Nas Jolaade, Tares Oburumu, Nwatu Oluchukwu, MK Kuol, Emmanuel G. G. Yamba, CP Nwankwo, Osahon Oka, Grace Oni, Ridwan Fasasi, ’Pelumi O’Dunsin, Ewa Gerald Onyebuchi, Gospel Okoro, Özge Lena, and Adesiyan Oluwapelumi.
Okiti Literary is led by Editor-in-Chief Samuel A. Betiku, a poet whose works have appeared in Rattle, The Offing, Strange Horizons, and Frontier Poetry. Betiku, who has won the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize and the Folorunsho Editor’s Poetry Prize, brings both local and international recognition to the journal.
Supporting him are Poetry Editors Deborah Ajilore and Hillary Ofukocho Anfofun. Ajilore, also a member of the Frontiers Collective, is known for documenting African art and has published widely in Ake Review, Invisible City Lit, and Mud Season Review. Anfofun, a social critic and academic, lectures at Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo, and won the Brigitte Poirson Literature Prize in 2024.
The journal’s reading and outreach team includes Kehinde Balogun, an arts reviewer and former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Ondo chapter, who handles social media strategy, and Emmanuel Akin-Ademola, a poet who manages email correspondence.
Okiti Literary’s founding editor is Pamilerin Jacob.
Okiti Literary also acknowledges its founding editor, Pamilerin Jacob, a poet and critic whose work has influenced contemporary Nigerian literature.
With its debut, the journal joins a growing network of independent literary platforms across Africa that are redefining how poetry is read, circulated, and preserved. Its editors describe the project as a commitment to amplifying new and established voices while documenting the vibrancy of literary expression in Nigeria and beyond.