If you have finished your NYSC, love books with your whole heart, and have been looking for a real way into the Nigerian publishing industry, Ouida Books wants to hear from you. The Lagos-based publisher, founded by novelist and poet Lola Shoneyin and home to some of the most exciting voices in African literature, including Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Nnedi Okorafor, and Bernardine Evaristo, is hiring four women editors for an 18-month paid internship. Applications close on 28 February 2026, which means you have very little time to get your materials together.

This is not a tea-and-filing situation. Ouida is calling it full immersion. Successful candidates will be working across publishing, editing, manuscripts, book design, marketing, sales, festival curation, and author relations; the full ecosystem of what it takes to bring a book from idea to reader. More specifically, interns will receive training in developmental editing, copy-editing, publishing workflows, rights trading (buying and selling), book production, distribution, author management, author tours, and community management. It is the kind of on-the-ground education that no classroom can replicate, inside one of the most culturally significant publishing houses on the continent.

Ouida is looking for graduates who love books seriously — people who read widely, write well, notice everything, can work independently and in a team, think fast, and can negotiate. The ability to travel is a plus, and a sense of humour about yourself is apparently non-negotiable. To apply, you will need to submit a two-page CV, a cover letter explaining your interest in Nigerian publishing specifically, and a 500-word piece about your favourite book written entirely in your own voice. That last point is underlined: do not use AI. They want to hear you.

Send your application pack to [email protected] with PUBLISHING INTERNSHIP in the subject line, before the 28 February 2026 deadline. Ouida Books has spent nearly a decade building an infrastructure for bold, high-quality African fiction and nonfiction, this internship is a chance to learn that craft from the inside. If you have been waiting for a door into Nigerian publishing, this is it.