An ọgbanje is a term in Odinani for what was thought to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Belief in ọgbanje in Igboland is not as strong as it once was, although there are still some believers.
Vivek Shraya is a Canadian musician, writer, and visual artist. She is a seven-time Lambda Literary Award finalist and is considered a Great Canadian Filmmaker of the Future by CBC Arts.
The Lazarus Project is a 2008 novel by Bosnian fiction writer and journalist Aleksandar Hemon. It features the true story of the death of Lazarus Averbuch, a teenaged Jewish immigrant to Chicago who was shot and killed by a police officer in 1908. It was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as, the winner of the inaugural Jan Michalski Prize for Literature in 2010.
The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year. A sister prize, the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, was launched in 2023.
The Mirror & the Light is a 2020 historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel and the final novel published in her lifetime, appearing two and a half years before her death. Following Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It covers the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Akwaeke Emezi is a Nigerian fiction writer and video artist, best known for their novels Freshwater (2018) and Pet and the New York Times bestselling work The Death of Vivek Oji. Emezi is a generalist who writes speculative fiction, romance, memoir, and poetry for both young adults and adults with mostly LGBT themes. Their work has earned them several awards and nominations including the Otherwise Award and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In 2021, Time featured them as a Next Generation Leader.
A Gentleman in Moscow is a 2016 novel by Amor Towles. It is his second novel, published five years after Rules of Civility (2011).
Hamnet is a 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional account of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age eleven in 1596, focusing on his parents' grief. In Canada, the novel was published under the title Hamnet & Judith.
Legendborn is a 2020 debut young adult fantasy novel by Tracy Deonn. Called "a modern day twist on Arthurian legend", it follows a black teenage girl who discovers a secret and historically white magic society. The book is the first in the Legendborn series. It was released on September 15, 2020, and it was published under Simon & Schuster/McElderry. Legendborn received the Coretta Scott King Award/John Steptoe Award for New Talent as well as a nomination for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Torrey Peters is an American author. Her debut novel, Detransition, Baby, has received mainstream and critical success. The novel was nominated for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Pet is a 2019 young adult fantasy/speculative fiction novel by Nigerian non-binary author Akwaeke Emezi. It was followed by a prequel Bitter, released in 2022.
Freshwater is a 2018 autobiographical fiction novel by Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi. Emezi's debut novel, it tells the story of Ada, a girl with multiple ogbanje dwelling inside her. A TV series based on the novel is under development by FX.
These Ghosts are Family is a historical fiction novel by Maisy Card, published March 3, 2020 by Simon & Schuster.
What Strange Paradise is a novel by Canadian writer Omar El Akkad, published in 2021 by Penguin Random House. The novel centres on Amir, a young boy from Syria who has survived the sinking of a ship that was carrying him and other refugees, and his developing bond with Vänna, a teenage girl who resides on the island where Amir washed up after the shipwreck.
Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir is a 2021 memoir written by Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi. It was first published in 2021 by Riverhead Books in the United States and Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom.
Bitter is a young adult novel written by Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi and published by Knopf on 15 February 2022. A prequel to Emezi's Pet, Bitter tells the story of a Black teenage girl living in a city troubled by constant protests and violence.
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is a 2022 romance novel by Nigerian writer Akwaeke Emezi. It is Emezi's first romance novel and third adult novel, and it follows Feyi Adekola, a Nigerian American visual artist, as she heals from the trauma of widowhood and finds new love.
Postcolonial Love Poem is a poem collection by Natalie Diaz which is her second collection.
Heather Clark is an American writer, literary critic and academic. Her biography of poet Sylvia Plath, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of The Grief of Influence: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (2011) and The Ulster Renaissance: Poetry in Belfast 1962–1972 (2006).
