Chibundu Onuzo is a 19-year-old Nigerian history student at Kings College, London -- and she has signed a two-novel deal for an undisclosed sum with Faber, making her the youngest ever female author from the British publisher. Onuzo's first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, will be published next summer. Her literary agency describes the book as...
"...the tale of an unlikely friendship between a male street hawker and a daughter of the corrupt elite that struggles to establish itself amidst the prejudices of Nigerian society. It is at once a darkly humorous coming of age tale and the story of a country torn between its past, its future, and the choices it faces."
Much like India about ten years ago, Nigeria seems to be the "it" nation for producing hip young writers lately. The CNN article on Onuzo, linked above, cites Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chika Unigwe, and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, though you should add Chris Abani, Uwem Akpan, and Uzodinma Iweala to the list, among others. This new generation of Nigerian writers has unprecedented opportunities, according to author and poet Helon Habila -- more than Habila believes his own generation had.
The CNN article goes on:
Nigeria has a rich literary tradition spanning the 50 years since its independence, including one Nobel Prize for Literature, one Man Booker Prize winner, one Man Booker International Prize, one Orange Prize winner, and three winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, which is often described as the "African Booker."
It is an impressive haul, even for Africa's most populous country with a population of 150 million, but according to those in the know, it is just the beginning.
Publishers and writers say there is an explosion of young Nigerian writers about to gain even more international recognition....
(Author Chika) Unigwe, too, is optimistic about the future.
She told CNN: "For a long time we thought the western market was closed to African writers, so it was a huge thrill when we started to see them being published.
"I get lots of emails from young writers who want to get published and there's some really amazing stuff coming out. It gives me a lot of hope for the next few years."
Comments