10 Nigerian Authors - Including Unigwe, Adichie, and Onuzo - Make Africa39 List
As we predicted in our 2014 book round-up, Nigerian authors are in full force on the Africa39 List, a celebration of writers under the age of 40 from Africa and its diaspora chosen in anticipation of Port Harcourt tenure as World Book Capital.
The list of authors was announced yesterday in London. The final 39 were selected by judges Elechi Amadi, Osonye Tess Onwueme, and Margaret Busby from a longlist of published fiction writers living on the continent or within the diaspora gathered by Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina. In an article for the UK Guardian, Busby said of the list:
Africa39 is not an exercise constrained by labels, fashion and preconceived rules about genres, nor by what constitutes African writing...Perhaps the best thing about Africa39 is that there is no single winner: it is a unique opportunity to showcase, celebrate and encourage a new generation of fiction writers, encompassing names that have already drawn international acclaim and others who are beneath the radar. The group is neither exclusive nor discrete, rather it is exemplary of exciting literature with African regional connections.
Here are the 10 authors of Nigerian origin who made the cut - join us in celebrating their excellence:
Tope Folarin, winner of the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing with his short story "Miracle"
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, winner of the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007 and author of the short story collection The Whispering Trees
Chibundu Onuzo, the youngest author to be published by Faber and Faber, Dylan Thomas Prize nominee, and author of The Spider King's Daughter
Chika Unigwe, Belgium-based winner of the 2012 NLNG Prize for Literature for On Black Sisters' Street
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, multiple award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah (shortlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction)
A Igoni Barrett, winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition and author of Love is Power, or Something Like That: Stories
Lola Shoneyin, poet and author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives (which was adapted for stage by Rotimi Babatunde, a fellow Africa39 finalist)
Rotimi Babatunde, winner of the 2012 Caine Prize for Literature for his short story "Bombay's Republic"
Taiye Selasi, Nigerian-Ghanaian author of Ghana Must Go and one of Granta Magazine's 20 Best Young British Writers
Ukamaka Olisakwe, columnist and author of Eyes of a Goddess
An anthology of the writers' works will be published in October, and will include an introduction from Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. See the full list of authors here, and learn more about Africa39 here. Many, many congratulations to all!
[Tweet "Congrats to the #authors on the @Africa_39 list! @MsOlisakwe @chikaunigwe @ChibunduOnuzo"]
