Book Report

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.”

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike’s Double Wahala, Double Trouble Collects Stories of Grisly Love and Life

“Perhaps, all I have tried doing in the collection is to track our proclivities for love and hate, intimacy and violence, solidarity and treachery,” the writer and academic said.

In The Republic of False Truths, Alaa Al Aswany Portrays the Egyptian Revolution of 2011

The famed writer’s novel, banned in Egypt and in several Arab countries, comes out in English.

Eloghosa Osunde’s Debut Novel, Vagabonds!, Follows a Host of Lagos “Outlaws”

The forthcoming book “traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance,” who “are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city’s dark energy.”

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Son of the Storm Is an Epic West African Tale of Magic & Caste

The novel—the first in his epic fantasy trilogy, Nameless Republic, based on 15th century West African empires—has been called “rich, wild, and occasionally dizzying.”

Nadia Owusu’s Memoir, Aftershocks, Bares Her Story of Loss, Race, and Identity

The Ghanaian and Armenian American writer’s debut has been praised for its lyricism.

The Stories in Ben Okri’s Prayer for the Living Move between Reality and Myth

The book has been described as “playful, frightening, shocking,” one that “will make you think, or make you laugh.”

Bolu Babalola’s Debut Collection Centers Women of Colour in Joyful Love

With Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around The World, Retold, the Nigerian British writer reinvents centuries-old love stories from West Africa, South Asia, and ancient Greece.

In Ishmael Beah’s Little Family, Sierra Leonean Kids Seek a Home

The activist and writer’s second novel is “a profound and tender portrayal of the connections we forge to survive the fate we’re dealt.”

NoViolet Bulawayo’s Second Novel, Glory, Is Inspired by the Fall of Robert Mugabe

The Zimbabwean writer’s “blockbuster novel about the chaos of revolution, presented as an uncannily recognizable anthropomorphic allegory,” will arrive nine years after her Booker Prize-shortlisted debut We Need New Names.

Ernest Ogunyemi

June 14, 2021

In The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed Gives Life to Mahmood Hussein Mattan

The Somali-British writer’s third novel revisits a real-life wrongful murder conviction, 70 years ago in Cardiff.

Ernest Ogunyemi

May 3, 2021

Bakwa’s Issue 10, Family Politricks, Looks Inside the Home

The issue features Pwaangulongii Dauod, Bertille Mbarga, Géraldin Mpesse, Nelson Kamkuimo, Kanyinsola Olorunnisola, JK Anowe, and Lebohang Mojapelo.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 27, 2021

In Jamal Mahjoub’s The Fugitives, Sudanese Music and a Road Trip

“The truth is, I’ve been trying to write this novel for years,” the British Sudanese author tells us. “I wanted to write about the impact of cultural fascism on artists, painters and musicians.”

Emmanuel Esomnofu

April 27, 2021

In Golden Apple of the Sun, Teju Cole Turns His Kitchen into Art

The text and photographic sequences are in the still life tradition of Chardin, Cezanne, and the Dutch masters, as well as the contemporary photographers Laura Letinsky and Jan Groover.

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 18, 2021

In Her Debut, Nana Nkweti Crosses Genres to Explore the Cameroonian American Experience

The short story collection Walking on Cowrie Shells “pulls from mystery, horror, realism, myth, and graphic novels.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 11, 2021

Surfacing Brings Together Black, Feminist South African Thinkers

Edited by Desiree Lewis and Gabeba Baderoon, the country’s first essay collection on contemporary Black feminisms features Panashe Chigumadzi, Sisonke Msimang, and Yewande Omotosho.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

April 11, 2021

Helen Oyeyemi’s Surrealist Novel, Peaces, Links Presents and Pasts

The eighth book from the Nigerian British writer—author of The Icarus Girl; Boy, Snow, Bird; and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours—has been called “a modern fairy tale.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 7, 2021

Uwem Akpan’s Debut Novel, New York, My Village, Is Partly About the Literary Life

Thirteen years after his bestselling collection Say You’re One of Them, the Nigerian Catholic priest is back.

Ernest Ogunyemi

March 27, 2021

Bernardine Evaristo’s Memoir, Manifesto, to Detail Her Long Journey to Success

Manifesto: On Never Giving Up is the Booker Prize winner’s 9th book and first nonfiction.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

March 22, 2021

Salma El-Wardany’s Debut Novel, of Friendship Among Muslim Women, Set for 2022

The Way We Were tells the story of three women’s friendship. “The story of young Muslim women wasn’t being told outside a stereotypical narrative,” said the Egyptian poet.

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

August 27, 2021

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike’s Double Wahala, Double Trouble Collects Stories of Grisly Love and Life

“Perhaps, all I have tried doing in the collection is to track our proclivities for love and hate, intimacy and violence, solidarity and treachery,” the writer and academic said.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 24, 2021

In The Republic of False Truths, Alaa Al Aswany Portrays the Egyptian Revolution of 2011

The famed writer’s novel, banned in Egypt and in several Arab countries, comes out in English.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 24, 2021

Eloghosa Osunde’s Debut Novel, Vagabonds!, Follows a Host of Lagos “Outlaws”

The forthcoming book “traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance,” who “are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city’s dark energy.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 11, 2021

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Son of the Storm Is an Epic West African Tale of Magic & Caste

The novel—the first in his epic fantasy trilogy, Nameless Republic, based on 15th century West African empires—has been called “rich, wild, and occasionally dizzying.”

Ernest Ogunyemi

August 9, 2021

Nadia Owusu’s Memoir, Aftershocks, Bares Her Story of Loss, Race, and Identity

The Ghanaian and Armenian American writer’s debut has been praised for its lyricism.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 9, 2021

The Stories in Ben Okri’s Prayer for the Living Move between Reality and Myth

The book has been described as “playful, frightening, shocking,” one that “will make you think, or make you laugh.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 9, 2021

Bolu Babalola’s Debut Collection Centers Women of Colour in Joyful Love

With Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around The World, Retold, the Nigerian British writer reinvents centuries-old love stories from West Africa, South Asia, and ancient Greece.

Paula Willie-Okafor

August 5, 2021

In Ishmael Beah’s Little Family, Sierra Leonean Kids Seek a Home

The activist and writer’s second novel is “a profound and tender portrayal of the connections we forge to survive the fate we’re dealt.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

July 10, 2021

NoViolet Bulawayo’s Second Novel, Glory, Is Inspired by the Fall of Robert Mugabe

Ernest Ogunyemi

June 14, 2021

In The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed Gives Life to Mahmood Hussein Mattan

The Somali-British writer’s third novel revisits a real-life wrongful murder conviction, 70 years ago in Cardiff.

Ernest Ogunyemi

May 3, 2021

Bakwa’s Issue 10, Family Politricks, Looks Inside the Home

The issue features Pwaangulongii Dauod, Bertille Mbarga, Géraldin Mpesse, Nelson Kamkuimo, Kanyinsola Olorunnisola, JK Anowe, and Lebohang Mojapelo.

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 27, 2021

In Jamal Mahjoub’s The Fugitives, Sudanese Music and a Road Trip

Emmanuel Esomnofu

April 27, 2021

In Golden Apple of the Sun, Teju Cole Turns His Kitchen into Art

The text and photographic sequences are in the still life tradition of Chardin, Cezanne, and the Dutch masters, as well as the contemporary photographers Laura Letinsky and Jan Groover.

Ernest Ogunyemi

April 18, 2021

In Her Debut, Nana Nkweti Crosses Genres to Explore the Cameroonian American Experience

The short story collection Walking on Cowrie Shells “pulls from mystery, horror, realism, myth, and graphic novels.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 11, 2021

Surfacing Brings Together Black, Feminist South African Thinkers

Edited by Desiree Lewis and Gabeba Baderoon, the country’s first essay collection on contemporary Black feminisms features Panashe Chigumadzi, Sisonke Msimang, and Yewande Omotosho.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

April 11, 2021

Helen Oyeyemi’s Surrealist Novel, Peaces, Links Presents and Pasts

The eighth book from the Nigerian British writer—author of The Icarus Girl; Boy, Snow, Bird; and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours—has been called “a modern fairy tale.”

Paula Willie-Okafor

April 7, 2021

Uwem Akpan’s Debut Novel, New York, My Village, Is Partly About the Literary Life

Thirteen years after his bestselling collection Say You’re One of Them, the Nigerian Catholic priest is back.

Ernest Ogunyemi

March 27, 2021

Bernardine Evaristo’s Memoir, Manifesto, to Detail Her Long Journey to Success

Manifesto: On Never Giving Up is the Booker Prize winner’s 9th book and first nonfiction.

Emmanuel Esomnofu

March 22, 2021

Salma El-Wardany’s Debut Novel, of Friendship Among Muslim Women, Set for 2022

The Way We Were tells the story of three women’s friendship. “The story of young Muslim women wasn’t being told outside a stereotypical narrative,” said the Egyptian poet.

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