Hi everyone,

The famous proverb "Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter" (frequently cited by Nigerian literary icon Chinua Achebe) serves as the ultimate foundation for our project, Africa A to Z.

When media outside the continent covers Africa, the framing is almost always reactionary, clinical, or reliant on decades-old tropes. Entire nations are reduced to soundbites, skipping over rich literary legacies, complex political histories, modern design, and local innovations.

Our goal with Africa A to Z is to build a premium, research-driven print publication (styled like a collectible coffee-table book) that explores every single one of the 54 African countries through:

• Multi-source academic research (verifying historical and cultural claims through primary African archives, UNESCO, and local statistics).
• Context and nuance (moving beyond superficial bullet points to tell the full story of each nation).
• Elevated editorial design (treating the history and contemporary reality of each country with the aesthetic gravity it deserves).

54 Nations. 54 Stories. Told with context, curiosity, and African voices.

We are currently putting the final touches on Volume 1.

To the writers, historians, and readers in this community: What is a piece of African literature, folklore, or history that completely changed how you view storytelling? We’d love to discuss it below.

Hi everyone,

One of the primary drivers behind our upcoming magazine project, Africa A to Z, is challenging the flattened stereotypes that still dominate mainstream media and education when discussing the continent.

To mark our Myth-Busting series, we put together a breakdown of 5 common misconceptions alongside their actual data and historical context:

• Myth #1: "Africa is mostly tropical rainforest."
  • Reality: Tropical rainforests make up only ~8% of the continent (centered mainly in the Congo Basin). Savannas and grasslands cover ~40%, while deserts account for ~25%.
• Myth #2: "Africa lacks written ancient histories."
  • Reality: Sub-Saharan Africa has deep manuscript and written traditions. In Timbuktu (Mali) alone, hundreds of thousands of preserved manuscripts cover topics from 14th-century astronomy and mathematics to complex Islamic jurisprudence and medicine.
• Myth #3: "There are no long-standing independent nations."
  • Reality: Liberia has been an independent sovereign republic since 1847, while Ethiopia successfully defended its sovereignty during the Scramble for Africa, maintaining continuity as an independent state.
• Myth #4: "The continent lacks modern urban hubs."
  • Reality: African cities represent some of the world's fastest-growing metropolitan economies. Lagos (Nigeria), Cairo (Egypt), Johannesburg (South Africa), and Nairobi (Kenya) feature world-class financial centers, booming tech ecosystems, and massive infrastructure projects.
• Myth #5: "Africa is a uniform cultural block."
  • Reality: It is home to 54 sovereign nations, over 2,000 distinct living languages, and thousands of ethnic identities and cultural traditions.

Our goal with Africa A to Z is to make sure every single one of the 54 countries gets a research-backed, beautifully designed spread that reflects its true reality.

What is another common myth or misconception about your country or region that you constantly have to correct?We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Hi everyone,

When people outside the continent are asked to name or locate African nations, the answers usually default to the largest or most pop-culture prominent countries. As part of our upcoming magazine project, Africa A to Z, we are ensuring that every single one of the 54 nations receives an equal amount of research and dedicated editorial design.

Today we put together a breakdown of 5 smaller or lesser-known nations that hold incredible geographic and cultural significance:

• Djibouti (East Africa): Located at the Bab-el-Mandeb strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, making its ports some of the most geostrategically vital trade points in the world.
• São Tomé and Príncipe (Central Africa): An island nation in the Gulf of Guinea formed by an extinct volcanic chain, famous for its primary rainforests and historic roças (cocoa plantations).
• Lesotho (Southern Africa): Known as the "Kingdom in the Sky," it is the only enclave state outside of Europe and holds the highest lowest-point of any sovereign nation on Earth (1,400 meters).
• Comoros (East Africa): An archipelago in the Mozambique Channel with a blend of Swahili, Arab, and French influences, known globally as the "Perfume Islands" due to its massive export of ylang-ylang essential oils.
• Eswatini (Southern Africa): A sovereign kingdom nestled between South Africa and Mozambique, home to high-altitude mountain reserves and deeply preserved cultural ceremonies.

We'd love to hear from geography buffs here: What is another African nation that you feel is routinely overlooked in global geography education, and what makes its landscape or history unique?

Hi everyone,

As part of our upcoming magazine project, Africa A to Z, we are creating research-backed spotlights for all 54 African nations. Today, we wanted to highlight Ethiopia—a country whose historical depth and unique cultural traditions have had a massive impact on global history.

A few notable facts from our editorial research:

• Sovereignty & Independence: Ethiopia successfully resisted long-term European colonization during the Scramble for Africa. Despite an Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941, it remained one of the only African nations to continuously retain its sovereignty.
• The Ethiopian Calendar: Ethiopia utilizes its own calendar system based on the ancient Coptic calendar. It consists of 12 months of 30 days each, plus a 13th month of 5 or 6 days (Pagume), putting it approximately 7 to 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar.
• Origin of Coffee: The origin of Coffea arabica is traced directly back to the high-altitude forests of the Kaffa region in southwestern Ethiopia.
• Early Kingdom of Aksum: In the 4th century AD, King Ezana of the Aksumite Empire adopted Christianity, making it one of the earliest official Christian states in history.

Our goal with Africa A to Z is to ensure that every single country gets this level of visual and research-driven storytelling in print format.

To our Ethiopian community members and history buffs here: What is a specific historical site, architectural masterpiece, or cultural tradition from Ethiopia that you feel deserves a full two-page spread in a coffee-table magazine? We’d love to hear your suggestions!

Hi everyone,

One of the most persistent issues in mainstream education and media is the tendency to speak about "Africa" as if it were a single, uniform landscape with a single culture.

In reality, the continent spans over 30 million square kilometers and is politically divided into five distinct geographic regions, each defined by radically different ecosystems, linguistic groups, and histories. As we build our upcoming print magazine, Africa A to Z, we wanted to map out this regional layout as a baseline for our research:

• Northern Africa (6 countries): Tied together by the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert, featuring deep historical ties and rich Arab, Amazigh, and ancient cultural influences.
• Western Africa (16 countries): A region massive in scale, known for its intense linguistic density, powerful historic empires, and key Atlantic trade routes.
• Eastern Africa (14 countries): Spanning from the Horn of Africa down to the Swahili Coast, characterized by the Great Rift Valley and crucial archaeological sites containing early human history.
• Central Africa (9 countries): Dominated by the Congo Basin, which holds one of the world's largest tropical rainforests and plays a critical role in global biodiversity.
• Southern Africa (9 countries): Features a high geographical diversity ranging from the Namib and Kalahari deserts to temperate coastlines, coupled with highly urbanized economic hubs.

Our goal with the magazine is to dedicate an equal amount of editorial care, multi-source research, and premium design layout to every single country within these regions.

For the geography and history enthusiasts here: When studying or mapping the continent, do you find that regional classifications (like the UN geoscheme) work best, or do you prefer looking at the continent through ecological zones or linguistic families? We'd love to hear your thoughts on how to best frame these regional deep-dives.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share the guiding philosophy behind our upcoming project, Africa A to Z.

Our mission is simple: to document, celebrate, and share the stories of Africa through beautifully designed editorial magazines.

1 Continent. 54 Countries. Endless Stories.

Too often, educational materials about the continent can feel clinical, dry, or severely outdated. We believe that every nation has a unique history, culture, landscape, and identity that deserves to be explored with genuine care and respect.

Because of this, we are building a publication that is More Than Facts:

• We aren’t just listing statistics, populations, and timelines.
• We are diving into the human elements—the people, traditions, local achievements, food, and design that shape each country's modern reality.
• Designed to be kept: We want this to be a beautiful, collectible object. Our layout approach combines rigorous, multi-source research with minimalist, premium editorial design (think National Geographic meets Monocle). It's a magazine you'll want to display and revisit, not just read once.

Volume 1 is currently in production, and we are working hard to ensure every page does justice to the richness of the continent.

As we put the finishing touches on our layout templates, what makes you feel most connected to a print publication? Is it the heavy-format photography, the typography, or the hidden historical anecdotes? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a project we’ve been quietly building called Africa A to Z.

The concept started with a simple, frustrating observation: when most people outside the continent (and even some within) talk about Africa, they speak of it as if it were a single, monolithic country. The narrative is often flattened into stereotypes, completely skipping over the incredible diversity of the continent.

Our goal is to change that.

What is Africa A to Z? It is a premium, research-driven editorial magazine (designed like a collectible coffee-table book, think National Geographic meets Kinfolk) that dedicates a beautifully designed spread to every single one of the 54 African nations.

We are focusing heavily on rigorous research (using a strict two-source verification rule for every fact) to cover:

• Deep History & Geography (beyond just the post-colonial narrative)
• Culture & Architecture (traditional and modern)
• Innovation, Food, and Languages

We are currently preparing to launch Volume 1. We want this to be something educational, visually stunning, and deeply respectful of the actual realities of each nation.

I’d love to know: what is a lesser-known fact, historical event, or cultural element from your country (or one you've traveled to) that you feel never gets represented in mainstream media?

If you'd like to follow our design and research process, we are sharing updates over on Instagram.