With two of the three on the shortlist and five of 11 on the longlist, Masobe Books is the premier publisher of the 2025 Nigerian Prize for Literature.
Works by Masobe Books on the shortlist include Oyin Olugbile’s Sanya and Chigozie Obioma’s The Road To The Country.
Narrative Landscape Press publishes This Motherless Land by Nikki May.
Masobe Books has established a strong presence in the current literary scene. In addition to having two books on the final shortlist, it secured five spots on the initial longlist of 11 titles, highlighting its crucial role in publishing prominent Nigerian authors.
Masobe Books is an independent Nigerian publishing company. It was founded in 2018 by Nigerian author Othuke Ominiabohs and has since become one of the leading publishers of contemporary African writing on the continent.
Masobe is a word derived from the Isoko Language of the Isoko people who hail from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It means ‘Let Us Read’. The first book published under Masobe Books was Othuke Ominiabohs’s debut novel, Odufa. Other imprints of Masobe Books include Makere and Oremaha, according to Wikipedia and Google.com.
Background
Othuke Ominiabohs is a distinguished Nigerian author and the founder of Masobe Books, a fast-growing publishing company that has become a significant force in African literature. His personal experiences deeply inspire his writing and publishing work.
Ominiabohs is a writer, poet, dramatist, publisher, and entrepreneur.
He has stood on podiums: Shortlisted for the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, ANA Prize for Prose Fiction, and named Brittle Paper’s Literary Person of the Year (2024.
Masobe Books tackles common issues in Nigerian literature, such as poor distribution and marketing, subpar production, especially for self-published books, readers’ apathy and scepticism, and authors’ disillusionment with obtaining proper publication, recognition, and exposure for their work.
Masobe Books is the publisher of Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s debut novel, I Do Not Come To You By Chance, in Nigeria. The novel, set in the world of Nigerian email scams, tells the story of a young man, Kingsley, who turns to his Uncle Boniface for help in bailing his family out of poverty.
Further notable authors published under Masobe Books include Ukamaka Olisakwe, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, T. J. Benson, Othuke Ominiabohs, Chimeka Garricks, and Michael Afenfia.
Othuke Ominiabohs’s journey is a remarkable story of resilience and passion for storytelling.
After graduating with a degree in Computer Science, Ominiabohs worked as an English teacher when he faced a life-threatening diagnosis of end-stage kidney disease. During this period, his regret over leaving his manuscripts unpublished strengthened his resolve to share his stories with the world.
Following a successful transplant and recovery, he self-published his first novel, Odufa, and personally distributed it by driving across Nigeria with copies in the boot of his car. This direct experience with the struggles faced by local writers led him to establish Masobe Books in 2018.
The name “Masobe” derives from the Isoko phrase meaning “Let us read”. The company was established to fill a significant gap in the market, concentrating on publishing original work by African writers whose voices were often neglected by established publishers. In just a few years, Masobe Books has experienced remarkable growth, publishing over 100 titles by more than 96 authors and selling over 100,000 copies.
Recent Impact: Masobe Books’ influence was prominently displayed in the 2025 Nigeria Prize for Literature, where it published five of the eleven longlisted titles, including two of the three shortlisted novels: Sanya by Oyin Olugbile and The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma. This success highlights the company’s significant role in shaping contemporary Nigerian literature.
Beyond Publishing
Omniabohs has implemented innovative strategies to overcome industry challenges, such as distribution and funding.
• Creative Distribution: Leveraging partnerships has been key to Masobe’s success. Notably, the company has distribution arrangements with a national pharmacy chain (Medplus) and key bookstores, enabling it to reach readers across Nigeria directly.
• Focus on Quality and Appeal: The company invests in high-quality, striking cover art and runs creative social media campaigns to make books visually appealing and engage a younger audience, helping to make reading “cool” again in Nigeria.
Masobe Book Titles
• I Do Not Come To You By Chance and Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (December, 2019);[8]
• A Broken People’s Playlist by Chimeka Garricks (June 8, 2020);[9]
• The Mechanics of Yenagoa by Michael Afenfia (June 15, 2020);[9]
• Ogadinma, or Everything Will Be All Right by Ukamaka Olisakwe (October 19, 2020);[10]
• Dreams and Assorted Nightmares by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (October 24, 2020);[10]
• Odufa and Aviara by Othuke Ominiabohs (August 2020);[11][12]
• The Madhouse by T. J. Benson (2021);[12][11][13]
• The days of silence by Angel Patricks Amegbe (2021).[12][11][13]
• Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad by Damilare Kuku (2021
