Molara Wood

Molara Wood is a writer, journalist, editor, creative director and culture activist based in Lagos, Nigeria. Described as ‘one of the eminent voices in the Arts in Nigeria,’ she is widely published and has an extensive catalogue of editorial work on books, journals and newspapers. She served as Arts & Culture editor of the groundbreaking NEXT newspaper; and for many years maintained an Arts column in the Guardian on Sunday, a leading Nigerian newspaper.

With credits across film, literature and visual art, Wood has served on the judging panels of awards including: the Zuma International Film Festival, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and the Quramo Writers Prize. She was also on the judging panel for the LOATAD Black Atlantic Residency 2025.

Wood is a contributor to publications including Olongo Africa, the BBC, and The Irish Times. She is the author of Indigo, a collection of short stories first published in 2013. She won the inaugural John La Rose Memorial Short Story Competition, and received a Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for her fiction. Fellowships include the LOATAD West African Writers Residency 2022; the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency 2023, and the Villa Karo Finnish-African Artist Residency.

Molara Wood recently served as Editor-in-Chief of “Black Orpheus Revisited” Project, an interdisciplinary exploration of the historic Black Orpheus journal (1957–1993).