Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka are two names synonymous with Nigerian
fiction, yet the literary output of the country is far from limited to
these two greats. Here, we look at ten authors whose international
success and reputation attest to their talent, and to the depth in
contemporary Nigerian literature.
‘If you don't like someone's story, write your own.’
Chinua Achebe is one of the most internationally-acclaimed writers from Africa,
and his death in 2013 saw an outpouring of tributes from across the
globe. Though he has often been called ‘The Father of Nigerian
Literature’, he twice refused the Nigerian government’s attempt to name
him Commander of the Federal Republic – first in 2004, then again in 2011 – in protest against the political regime of the country. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) is an intimate account of the clash between African native traditions of the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria and European colonisation.
Weaving together oral tradition with Igbo folk tales, Achebe’s works
reveal a tapestry of cultural norms, changing societal values, and the
individual’s struggle to find a place in this environment.
‘The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.’
When Wole Soyinka, a playwright, poet and writer won the Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1986, Achebe joined the rest of Africa to celebrate the first
African to receive the award. Soyinka’s writing often focuses on
oppression and exploitation of the weak by the strong; none are spared
in his critique, neither the white speculator nor the black exploiter.
Wole Soyinka has also played an important role in Nigerian politics,
which has at times exposed him to great personal risk. The government of
General Sani Abacha (1993–1998), for instance, pronounced a death sentence on him ‘in absentia’. His works include novels such as Aké: The Years of Childhood and Death and the King’s Horseman. You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoiris Soyinka’s own look at his life, experiences, and thoughts about Africa and Nigeria.
‘Nowadays, / When the strong fight the weak, it’s called / A Liberation War / To free the weak from oppression.’
- Women of Owu
As with many Nigerian writers, Femi Osofisan’s oeuvre – encompassing
plays, poems and novels – is informed by colonialism and its legacy, and
is a clear protest against corruption and injustice. Nonetheless, his
exploration of the themes surrounding the complex history of his country
are rarely literal. Instead, Osofisan employs allegory and metaphor,
and his writing often has a surrealist bent. His first novel, Kolera
Kolej (1975) tells the story of a Nigerian University campus that is
granted independence from the rest of the country in order to halt the
spread of a Cholera outbreak. His best-known play, Women of Owu (2004)
is a retelling of Euripides’ The Trojan Women. Osofisan translates the
play to the Ijebe and Ife war that devastated the Owu Kingdom in
1821-26.
‘To
see the madness and yet walk a perfect silver line. ... That's what the
true story-teller should be: a great guide, a clear mind, who can walk a
silver line in hell or madness.’
— Birds of Heaven
Ben Okri is a renowned novelist and poet whose written works defy
definition. He is often termed post-modern, yet his seamless
interweaving of the spirit world into his stories belies this genre. Yet
the author also rejects claims that his work falls into the ‘magical realism’
category, seeing his writing not as a venture into the realm of the
fantastic but instead a reflection of an upbringing wherein myths,
ancestors and spirits were an intrinsic component. ‘Everyone’s reality
is different,’ he once said. His most famous work is The Famished Road (1991), part of a trilogy – with Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches – that chronicle the journeys of Azaro, a spirit-child narrator.
‘God,
when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full
human being, not anybody’s appendage? she prayed desperately.’
— The Joys of Motherhood
Born in Lagos to Igbo parents, Emecheta moved to London in 1960 to
live with her husband Sylvester Onwordi, who had moved there to study.
The couple had been engaged since the age of 11, and whilst the marriage
produced five children, Onwordi was a violent partner; he even burned
her first manuscript, prompting Emecheta to leave him and establish
herself as a single mother. Her novels draw heavily from her own life
and address gender imbalance and enslavement, and how women are often
defined through the narrow framework of sexuality or the ability to bear
children. Her most acclaimed work, The Joys of Motherhood (1979),
has as its protagonist a woman who defines herself through motherhood,
and validates her life solely through the successes of her children.
Emecheta was awarded an OBE in 2005.
‘She
says the lesson to learn is that the world is round, which means that
if I run too fast I might end up chasing the very homeland I am running
from.’
Sefi Atta is a sensitive writer, who broaches polemical themes in a subtle and nuanced manner. Everything Good Will Come (2005),
her debut novel, is the story of Enitan, an eleven-year-old girl
waiting for school to start, and her friendship with the girl next door;
a relationship that receives little support from Enitan’s deeply
religious mother. Set against the backdrop of the military rule
of Nigeria in the 1970s, it is at once coming-of-age-tale and quiet
campaign against political corruption and the repression of women. Atta
is widely known for her radio plays, which have been broadcast on the BBC, and her short stories, that have appeared in a number of journals including the Los Angeles Review.
‘Life
is seen as an ongoing war between art and philistinism - and although
the philistines may win some of the battles, it is literature that
always wins the war.’
After graduating from University of Jos in 1995, Helon Habila worked first as a junior lecturer in Bauchi, then as Stories Editor for Hints magazine, before moving to England in 2002 to become the African Fellow at the University of East Anglia. That same year, his first novel was published: Waiting for an Angel
is a complex book that interweaves seven narratives, collectively
speaking of life under dictatorship rule in Nigeria. The book won the
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the African region, spurring the author
to greater success. His two subsequent novels, Measuring Time (2007) and the latest, Oil on Water (2011)
were equally well-received, and the list of awards and honors the
Habila has gained attest to his sophisticated and poetic literary voice.
‘Perhaps
this is what we mean by sanity: that, whatever our self-admitted
eccentricities might be, we are not villains of our own stories.’
— Open City
Born in the US to Nigerian parents, raised in Nigeria and now living
in Brooklyn, Cole’s upbringing is as peripatetic as his career;
photographer, art historian and novelist, he is also Distinguished
Writer in Residence at Bart College, New York. Open City (2011), his debut novel, is set in New York
five years after 9/11, and follows Julius, a psychiatry graduate, as he
wanders aimlessly first through the city, then as he travels to Brussels,
rootless and on the rebound from a previous relationship. Whilst the
geographical locations play a fundamental role in the novel, the
narrative above all reads as a mapping of Julius’ inner world, as the
divergent references and meandering associations woven into its
structure mirror often inexplicable thought processes. He has previously
published a novella, Every Day is for a Thief (2007), and he is currently working on a non-fictional narrative of contemporary Lagos.
‘His advice went in my ear and did a U-turn right out. Like most teenagers, I was sure that my father knew nothing about life.’
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a novelist, journalist and
essayist who from an early age demonstrated an affinity for the written
word, winning her first writing prize aged 13. As a journalist, she has
contributed to the New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian and CNN, amongst others. Her debut novelI Do Not Come to You By Chance (2010),
is told in a witty and irreverent tone that belies the fundamental
issues it addresses. Opara for his family, the book’s protagonist,
Kingsley, is unable to find work, and so turns to the shady world of
email confidence tricks. The 419 scams
are too often cited by xenephobes and racists as the main export of
Nigeria, yet Adoabi addresses this contentious issue with humour and
lightness, instead creating a story of family, aspiration and the hard
lessons that come with age.
‘I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.’
Chimamanda
is part of a new generation of Nigerian authors swiftly growing in
reputation, and each of her three novels have garnered universal acclaim
and a slew of awards. Her first two books dealt largely with the
political atmosphere of her native country through the prism of personal
and familial relationships. Purple Hibiscus (2003),
winner of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book, tells
the story of the fifteen-year-old Kambili, whose father is mysteriously
involved with a military coup that destabilizes the country. The
publication of Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)
confirmed the author has a uniquely talented voice; set amidst the
Nigerian-Biafran war, it chronicles the everyday horrors of the war
through the differing lives of its four protagonists. Her latest novel, Americanah (2013),
is at its heart an enduring love story between Ifemulu and Obinze,
childhood sweethearts who are separated when one goes to study in
America; nonetheless, it still manages to take in such themes as racism,
immigration and globalization.
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