Since its founding in 2010, Brittle Paper has published fiction, poetry, essays, creative nonfiction and photography from both established and upcoming African writers and artists in the continent and around the world.

[5][4] In 2014, the magazine was named a "Go-To Book Blog" by Publishers Weekly, who described it as "an essential source of news about new work by writers of color outside of the United States.

[10][11] Brittle Paper publishes original content submitted by authors, as well as commissioned reviews, interviews, essays, and other literary work.

Since 2015, Brittle Paper has recognized an African Literary Person of the Year, with the inaugural award going to Nigerian sci-fi novelist Nnedi Okorafor.

[4]In April 2020, the deputy editor of Brittle Paper, Otosirieze Obi-Young, stopped working for the publication over an internal editorial dispute.

The governor's wife had responded to a comment calling her attention to her son's threat of sexual violence against a Twitter user during an argument on the social network, by saying: "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

[20] According to Edoro, the Brittle Paper post, written and published by Obi-Young without her vetting, contained language that was "histrionic, inflammatory, even melodramatic and totally not in keeping with the seriousness of the matter" and did not meet the site's editorial standard.