Book Report

October 2, 2022

In His Forthcoming Third Novel, Chigozie Obioma Takes a Stab at the Biafran War

The Road to the Country, the Nigerian’s third novel announcement in seven years, is part of a two-book deal, and has been compared to Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front.

Paula Willie-Okafor

September 11, 2022

Aiwanose Odafen’s Tale of a Love Triangle

In her ‘80s-set debut novel, Tomorrow I Become a Woman, a young woman is caught between her needs for approval from both society and herself.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 13, 2022

In New Memoir, Emmanuel Iduma Traces His Family History Through the Biafran War

I Am Still with You: A Reckoning on Silence, Inheritance & History, set for 2023, is billed as “the story of countless families across the country who will never have answers for their loved ones.” Iduma calls it “the book I’ve been preparing to write for most of my life.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

August 8, 2022

The Beautyful Ones Have Just Been Born Collects “Inspiring and Fearless” Writing from the Gerald Kraak Prize

The anthology, published by Jacana Media and edited by the chair of the award panel Otosirieze Obi-Young, includes work by Roy Udeh-Ubaka, Ukamaka Olisakwe, Moso Sematlane, Chisom Okafor, Halim Olaposi, Sheena Magenya, Kanyinsola Olorunnisola, and more.

Paula Willie-Okafor

July 11, 2022

In Smoking the Bible, Chris Abani Paints a Story of Brotherhood and Exile

The collection, his seventh, has been praised for how it “emanates grit and beauty” and is “spiritual, philosophical, personal, and deeply affecting.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 27, 2022

C.A. Davids’ How to Be a Revolutionary Explores Personal and Political Loyalties

The novel, set in South Africa and China, has been compared to fiction by Teju Cole and Zinzi Clemmons.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 27, 2022

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s Romantic Comedy Debut

In Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?, a woman charts the pressure to marry, and finds self-love.

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 18, 2022

In Asylum, Edafe Okporo Tells His Story of Seeking Refuge from Homophobia

Years ago in Nigeria, the activist was attacked by a mob for being gay. “Alongside my personal story is a call to action,” he wrote about his new memoir.

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 17, 2022

Ousman Umar’s North to Paradise, a Memoir of Migration Across the Sahara Desert

The story, moving from Ghana to Spain, has been called “a stunning testament to the strength of the human spirit.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 7, 2022

Noor Naga’s Romance Looks at Egyptian American Identity Post-Arab Spring

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, winner of the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, has been described as “enthralling and nuanced.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 25, 2021

Blessing Musariri’s Dystopian Debut Novel

Only This Once Are You Immaculate is “a book about the life we don’t live,” said the Zimbabwean writer. “I watched it all unfold in my head as live action.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

December 11, 2021

Arinze Ifeakandu’s Debut, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, Dissects Queer Male Intimacy

Edmund White praised it as “the beginning of a brilliant career.” Adam Haslett called the book “heartbroken but pulsing with life” and Ifeakandu “a major talent.”

Uzoma Ihejirika

December 11, 2021

Ayobami Adebayo’s A Spell of Good Things Is a Tale of Two Families

The Nigerian writer’s second novel, the follow-up to 2017’s Stay with Me, will arrive in 2022.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 2, 2021

Kwaku Darko-Mensah Jr.’s Flood Season Draws from Family History and Memories of Accra

The Ghanaian poet’s debut collection has spurred comparison to “folk poets like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 23, 2021

In Seesaw, Timothy Ogene Satirizes Literary Stereotypes in America

The Nigerian writer and Harvard academic’s second novel is “a refreshing and hugely enjoyable act of literary rebellion.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 11, 2021

In God of Mercy, Okezie Nwọka Creates a “Folklore of the Uncolonized”

The Nigerian writer’s debut novel, of Igbo fantasy, has been praised as a cross between Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Uzoma Ihejirika

November 11, 2021

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s The Most Secret Memory of Men Borrows from the Life of Malian Novelist Yambo Ouologuem

Published in French as La plus secrete memoire des homes, it won the Prix Goncourt and was hailed as “a hymn to literature.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 27, 2021

Akwaeke Emezi’s Poetry Debut, Content Warning: Everything, Arrives 2022

The novelist’s poems “travel from home to homesickness, tracing desire to surrender and abuse to survival.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

October 7, 2021

Okwiri Oduor’s Debut Novel Things They Lost Explores Mother-Daughter Longing

The Caine Prize winner’s forthcoming book is “suffused with Kenyan folklore and myth.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

September 4, 2021

The Country of Others, Leila Slimani’s First Volume in a Trilogy, Is a Love Story in Colonial Morocco

The novel has been praised for its “charged language.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 2, 2022

In His Forthcoming Third Novel, Chigozie Obioma Takes a Stab at the Biafran War

The Road to the Country, the Nigerian’s third novel announcement in seven years, is part of a two-book deal, and has been compared to Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front.

Paula Willie-Okafor

September 11, 2022

Aiwanose Odafen’s Tale of a Love Triangle

In her ‘80s-set debut novel, Tomorrow I Become a Woman, a young woman is caught between her needs for approval from both society and herself.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 13, 2022

In New Memoir, Emmanuel Iduma Traces His Family History Through the Biafran War

I Am Still with You: A Reckoning on Silence, Inheritance & History, set for 2023, is billed as “the story of countless families across the country who will never have answers for their loved ones.” Iduma calls it “the book I’ve been preparing to write for most of my life.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

August 8, 2022

The Beautyful Ones Have Just Been Born Collects “Inspiring and Fearless” Writing from the Gerald Kraak Prize

The anthology, published by Jacana Media and edited by the chair of the award panel Otosirieze Obi-Young, includes work by Roy Udeh-Ubaka, Ukamaka Olisakwe, Moso Sematlane, Chisom Okafor, Halim Olaposi, Sheena Magenya, Kanyinsola Olorunnisola, and more.

Paula Willie-Okafor

July 11, 2022

In Smoking the Bible, Chris Abani Paints a Story of Brotherhood and Exile

The collection, his seventh, has been praised for how it “emanates grit and beauty” and is “spiritual, philosophical, personal, and deeply affecting.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 27, 2022

C.A. Davids’ How to Be a Revolutionary Explores Personal and Political Loyalties

The novel, set in South Africa and China, has been compared to fiction by Teju Cole and Zinzi Clemmons.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 27, 2022

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s Romantic Comedy Debut

In Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?, a woman charts the pressure to marry, and finds self-love.

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 18, 2022

In Asylum, Edafe Okporo Tells His Story of Seeking Refuge from Homophobia

Years ago in Nigeria, the activist was attacked by a mob for being gay. “Alongside my personal story is a call to action,” he wrote about his new memoir.

Paula Willie-Okafor

January 17, 2022

Ousman Umar’s North to Paradise, a Memoir of Migration Across the Sahara Desert

The story, moving from Ghana to Spain, has been called “a stunning testament to the strength of the human spirit.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

January 7, 2022

Noor Naga’s Romance Looks at Egyptian American Identity Post-Arab Spring

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, winner of the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, has been described as “enthralling and nuanced.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 25, 2021

Blessing Musariri’s Dystopian Debut Novel

Only This Once Are You Immaculate is “a book about the life we don’t live,” said the Zimbabwean writer. “I watched it all unfold in my head as live action.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

December 11, 2021

Arinze Ifeakandu’s Debut, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, Dissects Queer Male Intimacy

Edmund White praised it as “the beginning of a brilliant career.” Adam Haslett called the book “heartbroken but pulsing with life” and Ifeakandu “a major talent.”

Uzoma Ihejirika

December 11, 2021

Ayobami Adebayo’s A Spell of Good Things Is a Tale of Two Families

The Nigerian writer’s second novel, the follow-up to 2017’s Stay with Me, will arrive in 2022.

Paula Willie-Okafor

December 2, 2021

Kwaku Darko-Mensah Jr.’s Flood Season Draws from Family History and Memories of Accra

The Ghanaian poet’s debut collection has spurred comparison to “folk poets like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 23, 2021

In Seesaw, Timothy Ogene Satirizes Literary Stereotypes in America

The Nigerian writer and Harvard academic’s second novel is “a refreshing and hugely enjoyable act of literary rebellion.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

November 11, 2021

In God of Mercy, Okezie Nwọka Creates a “Folklore of the Uncolonized”

The Nigerian writer’s debut novel, of Igbo fantasy, has been praised as a cross between Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Uzoma Ihejirika

November 11, 2021

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s The Most Secret Memory of Men Borrows from the Life of Malian Novelist Yambo Ouologuem

Published in French as La plus secrete memoire des homes, it won the Prix Goncourt and was hailed as “a hymn to literature.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

October 27, 2021

Akwaeke Emezi’s Poetry Debut, Content Warning: Everything, Arrives 2022

The novelist’s poems “travel from home to homesickness, tracing desire to surrender and abuse to survival.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

October 7, 2021

Okwiri Oduor’s Debut Novel Things They Lost Explores Mother-Daughter Longing

The Caine Prize winner’s forthcoming book is “suffused with Kenyan folklore and myth.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

September 4, 2021

The Country of Others, Leila Slimani’s First Volume in a Trilogy, Is a Love Story in Colonial Morocco

The novel has been praised for its “charged language.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu