Bakandamiya Hikaya has truly come a long way. It feels just like yesterday when on 15th October 2021 we launched a platform for our literary community, and today we are already celebrating our fourth anniversary – a truly significant milestone! All praises are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
For those who may not yet know what we do, Bakandamiya Hikaya is a book publishing platform – a home for readers, writers, and literary enthusiasts. We publish both fiction and non-fiction works: prose, plays, poetry, essays, and blog articles, in both Hausa and English languages.
Readers can access hundreds of free books simply by signing up, and they can subscribe with a token fee to read premium books. Also, at the core of our values is the principle of uplifting our writers through constructive refinement of their work, promotion and collaboration.
Over the years, we have made remarkable progress in many areas: from consistently publishing an impressive number of books to growing a loyal community of readers. Of course, we have also encountered challenges along the way; yet, in all things, we remain grateful to Allah as we move forward.
Major milestones
As is our annual tradition, we are delighted to share with our readers, writers and literary enthusiasts the progress we have made this year. All thanks to your continuous support.
Books
As of today, we proudly host 262 books on Bakandamiya Hikaya, accessible to anyone eager to read them. Out of these, hundreds are complete stories. About 60 books are exclusive to paid subscribers, while more than 200 are free for every registered member to enjoy. All these books comprise of 4238 chapters.
Authors
As of today, the 15th of October 2025, the number of writers who have published on Bakandamiya Hikaya has grown from 97 last year to 123 this year.
Subscribers
Despite the economic challenges faced in recent years, we are pleased to report encouraging growth in our subscriber base — from 1,637 last year to 2,070 subscribers this year.
Blog articles
We currently host at least 60 high-quality, educational blog articles on our platform. Publishing blog articles is one of the ways we nurture our writers and contribute to the growth of our literary community, and we take it seriously.
Automatic subscription payment
One of our proudest achievements this year is the integration of an automatic payment system using Paystack technologies. No more waiting for manual verification — once your payment is confirmed, your subscription is instantly activated. You can start reading your favorite books right away!
Reduction in subscription fees – ₦750 per month
And here’s even better news for our valued subscribers: we have introduced a massive reduction in subscription fees starting today. You can now subscribe for as little as ₦750 per month. Check out our subscription packages on the platform.
Awards for outstanding writers
Writers are the backbone of Bakandamiya Hikaya, and we deeply value the contributions of every single one of them. While we sincerely appreciate everyone who has ever published even a single chapter on our platform, we would like to formally recognize a few exceptional writers for their outstanding contributions to our growth.
This year, we would like to recognise 3 great writers with Bakandamiya Golden Pen Award. This award started in 2023 with the name: Bakandamiya Golden Author Award, which recognized writers who mainly contributed to the development of Bakandamiya Hikaya. This year, the award is modified both in name and scope to cover writers across Bakandamiya platforms, mainly Bakandamiya Hikaya and Bakandamiya Encyclopaedia. Also, each awardee receives equal recognition of:
- Certificate of recognition
- ₦50,000 cash prize
- 6 months subscription on Hikaya
Therefore, the award this year goes to:
- Fadima Aminu Ya’u (Fadimafayau)
- Abubakar Abdullahi Garba (Sadik Abubakar)
- Khadija S. Moh’d (Matar J)
Looking ahead
Bakandamiya Hikaya has only just begun. We have worked — and continue to work — with unwavering dedication toward our mission: to bring together Africa’s creative talents, to nurture them, and to tell our own stories while preserving our beautiful culture and heritage.
So, we invite everyone – writers and readers alike – to join us in promoting reading culture in our society.
Bakandamiya Hikaya — a journey of a thousand miles, and we are just getting started.
