Chibundu Onuzo | |
|---|---|
 Onuzo in 2019 | |
| Born | Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo 1991 (age 32–33) Lagos, Nigeria |
| Years active | 2012– |
| Notable work |
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Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo FRSL (born 1991) is a Nigerian novelist. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, [1] was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize [2] and the Commonwealth Book Prize, [3] and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize [4] and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. [5]
Chibundu Onuzo was born in 1991 in Nigeria, the youngest of four children of parents who are doctors, and grew up in Lagos. [6] [7] She moved to England when she was 14 to study at an all-girls' school in Winchester, Hampshire, for her GCSEs, [8] and at the age of 17 began writing her first novel, which was signed two years later by Faber and Faber and was published when she was 21. [9] [10] She was the youngest female writer ever taken on by the publisher. [11] Reviewing her second book, Welcome to Lagos (2016), Helon Habila wrote in The Guardian : "Onuzo's portrayal of human character is often too optimistic, her view of politics and society too charitable; but her ability to bring her characters to life, including the city of Lagos, perhaps the best-painted character of all, is impressive." [12]
Onuzo received a first-class bachelor's degree in history from King's College London (2012), [13] [5] and went on to earn a master's degree in public policy from University College London. [7] She studied for a PhD at King's College London, researching the West African Students' Union. [14] [15]
She has written for outlets including The Guardian [16] and NPR, [17] and contributed the short story "Sunita" to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa , edited by Margaret Busby. [18]
Onuzo's third novel Sankofa was published in the UK by Virago in June 2021, [19] and was reviewed by The Guardian as "[a]n accomplished novel that explores difference and belonging with a cool intensity". [20] Brittle Paper described it as "a love story, a political history, and a father-daughter drama". [21] Sankofa was published by Catapult in the US and by Narrative Landscape in Nigeria. [22] [23]
The Spider King's Daughter won a Betty Trask Award (2013), [24] and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize [25] and the Commonwealth Book Prize. [26] In addition the novel was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize [27] and for the Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2013. [28]
In April 2014 Onuzo was selected for the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. [29]
In June 2018 Onuzo was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. [30]
At the 2020 American Black Film Festival, the HBO Short Film Competition was won by Dọlápọ̀ Is Fine , for which Onuzo co-wrote the screenplay and which was based on her short story "Sunita". [31] [32] The film, which was directed by Joan Iyiola, has also been longlisted for the Bafta British short film award. [33]
Sarah Ladipo Manyika FRSL is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is the author of two well-received novels, In Dependence (2009) and Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun (2016), as well as the non-fiction collection Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora (2022), and her writing has appeared in publications including Granta, Transition, Guernica, and OZY, and previously served as founding Books Editor of OZY. Manyika's work also features in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean lawyer and writer. She writes in English, though she also draws on Shona, her first language. In 2016, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by Brittle Paper. In 2017 she had a DAAD Artist-in-Residence fellowship in Berlin.
Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a reputation as an adventurous, humorous and outspoken poet, having published three volumes of poetry. Her writing delves into themes related to female sexuality and the difficulties of domestic life in Africa. In April 2014 she was named on the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. Lola won the PEN Award in America as well as the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for prose in Nigeria. She was also on the list for the Orange Prize in the UK for her debut novel, The Secret of Baba Segi's Wives, in 2010. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria, where she runs the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival. In 2017, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by Brittle Paper.
Nadifa Mohamed is a Somali-British novelist. She featured on Granta magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Her 2021 novel, The Fortune Men, was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, making her the first British Somali novelist to get this honour. She has also written short stories, essays, memoirs and articles in outlets including The Guardian, and contributed poetry to the anthology New Daughters of Africa. Mohamed was also a lecturer in Creative Writing in the Department of English at Royal Holloway, University of London until 2021. She will be Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in Spring 2022.
Zukiswa Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014, Wanner was named on the Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature.
Ellah Wakatama, OBE, Hon. FRSL, is the Editor-at-Large at Canongate Books, a senior Research Fellow at Manchester University, and Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She was the founding Publishing Director of the Indigo Press. A London-based editor and critic, she was on the judging panel of the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award and the 2015 Man Booker Prize. In 2016, she was a Visiting Professor & Global Intercultural Scholar at Goshen College, Indiana, and was the Guest Master for the 2016 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Foundation international journalism fellowship in Cartagena, Colombia. The former deputy editor of Granta magazine, she was the senior editor at Jonathan Cape, Random House and an assistant editor at Penguin. She is series editor of the Kwani? Manuscript Project and the editor of the anthologies Africa39 and Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a Ugandan-British novelist and short story writer. Her doctoral novel, The Kintu Saga, was shortlisted and won the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013. It was published by Kwani Trust in 2014 under the title Kintu. Her short story collection, Manchester Happened, was published in 2019. She was shortlisted for the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story "Let's Tell This Story Properly", and emerged Regional Winner, Africa region. She was the Overall Winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She was longlisted for the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. In 2018, she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize in the fiction category. In 2021, her novel The First Woman won the Jhalak Prize.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is a Nigerian writer and journalist. He was described by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle as a northern Nigerian "literary provocateur" amidst the international acclaim his award-winning novel Season of Crimson Blossoms received in 2016.
Elnathan John is a Nigerian novelist, satirist and lawyer whose stories have twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing.
Hawa Jande Golakai is a Liberian writer and clinical scientist. In 2014 she was chosen as one of 39 of Sub-Saharan Africa's most promising writers under the age of 40, showcased in the Africa39 project and included in the anthology Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara.
Brittle Paper is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro. 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. A member of The Guardian Books Network, it has been described as "the village square of African literature", as "Africa's leading literary journal", and as "one of Africa's most on the ball and talked-about literary publications". 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."
Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ is a Nigerian writer. Her 2017 debut novel, Stay With Me, won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and the Prix Les Afriques. She was awarded The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture in 2017.
Yewande Omotoso is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She currently lives in Johannesburg. Her two published novels have earned her considerable attention, including winning the South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author, being shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the M-Net Literary Awards 2012, and the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and being longlisted for the 2017 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso.
Emmanuel Iduma is a Nigerian writer and art critic. He is the author of A Stranger's Pose (2018) and Farad (2012). In 2016, Farad was republished in North America as The Sound of Things to Come. He was awarded the inaugural Irving Sandler Award for New Voices in Art Criticism by the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, USA. He teaches in the MFA Art Writing Program at the School of Visual Arts, New York City.
Ainehi Edoro is a Nigerian writer, critic and academic. She is the founder and publisher of the African literary blog Brittle Paper. She is currently an assistant professor of Global Black Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her areas of research include 21st-century fiction, literature in digital/social media, The Global Anglophone Novel, African Literature, Contemporary British Fiction, Novel Theory, Political Philosophy, and Digital Humanities.
Edwige-Renée Dro is a writer, translator and literary activist from Côte d'Ivoire. She is co-founder of the literature collective Abidjan Lit.
Born on a Tuesday is a 2016 novel by Nigeria writer Elnathan John. It is his debut novel. It was published in 2016 by Black Cat an imprint of Grove Press.
The Spider King's Daughter is a 2012 novel written by Nigerian writer Chibundu Onuzo. It was first published on March 1, 2012, by Faber and Faber.
Welcome to Lagos is a 2016 novel written by Nigeria writer Chibundu Onuzo. It was first published on May 1, 2016, by Catapult & Co., an imprint of Black Balloon Publishing.
Sankofa is a 2021 social novel by Nigerian novelist Chibundu Onuzo Sankofa is Onuzo's third novel. It was published in the UK by Virago in June 2021, and was reviewed by The Guardian as "[a]n accomplished novel that explores difference and belonging with a cool intensity". then published by Catapult in the US and Narrative Landscape in Nigeria.
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