summary of nigerian literature

Nigerian Literature: A Rich Cultural Heritage

Post author: Applied Worldwide Nigeria
Post published: June 30, 2023
Post category: People

Nigeria has a vibrant literary tradition that reflects the country’s diverse history, culture, and identity. Nigerian literature encompasses a range of genres, from novels and short stories to poetry and drama. It has produced a number of celebrated writers who have gained international recognition for their works. In this blog, we will explore the origins and evolution of Nigerian literature, its major themes and genres, and its significant contributions to the world of literature.

Origins and Evolution of Nigerian Literature

Nigerian literature has a rich and diverse history that spans several centuries. Oral literature, which was the primary form of literary expression in Nigeria before the advent of written literature, has its roots in the country’s diverse ethnic and linguistic communities. Folk tales, legends, proverbs, and songs were the primary means of transmitting cultural values and traditions from one generation to another.

The advent of written literature in Nigeria can be traced back to the colonial period. The first literary works in Nigeria were produced by European missionaries and explorers who wrote about their experiences in the country. The first Nigerian novel, “The Palm-Wine Drinkard” by Amos Tutuola , was published in 1952. It was followed by other notable works such as “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “The Interpreters” by Wole Soyinka.

Nigerian Literature Themes and Genres

Nigerian literature addresses a wide range of themes that reflect the country’s complex social, political, and economic realities. Some of the prominent themes in Nigerian literature include colonialism, postcolonialism, identity, corruption, gender, and social injustice. These themes are explored through various genres such as novels, poetry, drama, and short stories.

Novels are the most popular genre in Nigerian literature. They provide a medium for exploring complex social and political issues. And are often used to critique government policies and societal norms. Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” for instance, explores the impact of colonialism on Nigerian society and culture. It depicts the struggle of a traditional Igbo community to maintain its cultural identity in the face of colonialism and Christianity.

Poetry is another popular genre in Nigerian literature. It is used to explore themes such as love, nature, and social issues. Some notable Nigerian poets include Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua Achebe. Okigbo’s poetry often dealt with the themes of war, love, and African identity. While Soyinka’s poetry explored issues such as political corruption and social injustice.

Drama is another significant genre in Nigerian literature. It is used to explore social and political issues and to critique government policies and societal norms. Wole Soyinka’s play, “Death and the King’s Horseman,” for instance, explores the tension between traditional African beliefs and British colonialism. It depicts the conflict between a traditional Yoruba community and British colonial authorities over the burial of the king’s horseman.

Nigerian Literature and History

Nigerian literature has been greatly influenced by the country’s history, culture, and politics. From the pre-colonial era to the present day, Nigerian literature has undergone numerous transformations, reflecting the changing social, economic, and political realities of the country. In this article, we will explore the development of Nigerian literature, its key themes and genres, and some of its most prominent writers.

Pre-Colonial Era

Before the arrival of Europeans in Nigeria, there existed a rich tradition of oral literature that was passed down from generation to generation. These oral traditions, which include myths, legends, and folktales, were used to teach moral lessons and preserve the history of the community. One of the most well-known examples of pre-colonial Nigerian literature is the epic poem, “The Song of Ogun”. This poem tells the story of the Yoruba god of iron and war.

Colonial Era

The colonial era marked a significant turning point in Nigerian literature. With the arrival of European missionaries and administrators, English became the dominant language of education and communication. Many Nigerian writers, such as Amos Tutuola and Chinua Achebe, began to write in English. Using the language to challenge colonial stereotypes and highlight the struggles of ordinary Nigerians.

One of the most influential works of Nigerian literature from this period is Chinua Achebe’s novel, “Things Fall Apart”. It tells the story of Okonkwo, a traditional Igbo leader whose life is disrupted by the arrival of European colonizers. Achebe’s novel is often cited as a landmark in postcolonial literature and has been translated into over 50 languages.

Post-Independence Era

Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, ushering in a period of political and social upheaval. Nigerian writers continued to use literature as a means of exploring the complexities of Nigerian society. With many focusing on themes such as corruption, social inequality, and the impact of colonialism.

One of the most notable writers of this period is Wole Soyinka , who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. Soyinka’s works, such as “The Lion and the Jewel” and “Death and the King’s Horseman,” are known for their political and social commentary. As well as their use of traditional Yoruba culture and mythology.

Contemporary Nigerian Literature

In recent years, Nigerian literature has gained international recognition, with many Nigerian writers winning prestigious awards and accolades. Some of the most notable contemporary Nigerian writers include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Who has won numerous awards for her novels “Purple Hibiscus,” “Half of a Yellow Sun,” and “Americanah”; and Ben Okri, whose novel “The Famished Road” won the Booker Prize in 1991.

Contemporary Nigerian literature continues to explore themes such as identity, race, gender, and globalization, reflecting the complex realities of a rapidly changing society. Many writers are also experimenting with new forms and styles of writing, such as graphic novels, poetry collections, and experimental fiction.

Nigerian literature has a rich and diverse history, reflecting the complexities of Nigerian society and its ongoing struggles for independence, social justice, and equality. From the pre-colonial era to the present day, Nigerian writers have used literature to challenge stereotypes, explore political and social issues, and celebrate the cultural richness of the country. With the growing international recognition of Nigerian literature, the future looks bright for this dynamic and constantly evolving field.

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My Top Ten Nigerian Books

I’ve always been a huge fan of Nigerian literature. A few years back I even went on a course to learn Igbo. I started seriously reading Nigerian literature during my PhD studies on Nigerian and Zimbabwean contemporary fiction—a course, incidentally, which I never finished, because I began writing my own novel instead. The brevity, freshness, and unique storytelling style of Nigerian authors made me fall in love with the country’s literature and, in turn, taught me to believe in myself and my own writing style.

With over 500 languages and over 240 ethnic groups, Nigeria is a mesmerising place for any writer to write about, and the country boasts some of the greatest authors in African literature. The first person from an African country to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka in 1986. Nigerian Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , published in 1958, is still one of the most widely read book in African literature. The first African author to win the Orange Prize for Fiction was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with her novel Half of a Yellow Sun in 2007, and the first Booker Prize awarded to an African author went to Nigerian Ben Okri’s The Famished Road in 1991. Evidently, Nigeria has a very rich literary tradition, which continues to this day.

Here are some of my recent favourites:

Jude Dibia’s Blackbird (2011) A powerful novel about love, jealousy, and the fragility of life. Dibia caught my attention with his first book, Walking With Shadows , a brave and sensitive novel about homosexuality in Nigeria. Blackbird goes further in exploring what makes us human, how far we are prepared to go to for the people we love, and whether the sacrifices we make are ever truly worth it.

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s I Do Not Come To You By Chance (2010) Have you ever wondered who’s really behind all those Nigerian scam emails promising you untold riches? Meet Kingsley Ibe and the dangerous yet fascinating world of Nigerian 419 scams. This book is incredibly funny—at times I laughed out loud reading it—but it also shows the industry’s darker side, exploring why people might decide to enter the criminal world in the first place.

Helon Habila’s Oil on Water (2011) Oil on Water is Habila’s third novel and tells the story of two journalists in pursuit of the kidnapped European wife of an oil executive. It is a pessimistic but must-read novel that highlights the ongoing tragedy of the environmental degradation of the Niger delta and the Ogoni people.

Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street (2010) An unsettling novel about four Nigerian prostitutes living in Antwerp. Before she wrote it, Unigwe approached a number of women working as prostitutes to tell her their life stories, and the book reflects this underlying reality in its raw and vivid language. Unigwe tells a story of courage and hope and manages not to stereotype her female characters as victims.

Mohammed Umar’s Amina (2006) Set in northern Nigeria, Amina is one of those rare books which offer a glimpse into a world under Islamic rule. This novel has been translated to over 40 languages, and it tells the story of one woman’s transformation into a leader of a movement to bring much needed social change. There are very few Northern Nigerians who write in English and Amina is a great place to start.

Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2011) Baba Segi has four wives. But his fourth, the young, ambitious and college-educated Bolanle, has still not had a baby. Imagine Nigerian Big Love, but so much better!

Chris Abani’s The Virgin of Flames (2007) Set in East Los Angeles the book follows part-Salvadorian, part-Nigerian mural artist Black and his obsession with transsexual stripper Sweet Girl. Black’s friends include Iggy the tattoo artists and Bomboy the Rwandan butcher. Unforgettable characters that will keep you awake at night.

Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s In Dependence (2008) I fell in love with Manyika’s characters: Tayo, a Nigerian on scholarship in Oxford and Vanessa, a British colonial officer’s daughter. A touching and bittersweet cross-cultural love story set in the 1960s.

Richard Ali’s City of Memories (2012) Ali’s first novel tackles the big question of what love really means, set during the time of religious and ethnic upheavals in Northern-Central Nigeria. A beautiful book of self-discovery by a young author to watch.

Uwem Akpan’s Say You Are One of Them (2010) A collection of five short stories, each written from the point of view of a child, and each set in a different African country. It is not an easy book to read, and the stories will haunt you long after you finish them.

About A. M. Bakalar

A. M. Bakalar was born and raised in Poland. She lived in Germany, France, Sicily and Canada before she moved to the UK in 2004. Her first novel, Madame Mephisto , was among readers’ recommendations for the Guardian First Book Award. She is the first Polish woman to publish a novel in English since Poland joined the EU in 2004. A. M. Bakalar lives with her partner—a drum and bass musician—in London. She is currently at work on her second novel.

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The changing face of nigerian literature, by emma shercliff, 09 december 2015 - 16:54.

'As Nigerian writers and publishers become more confident, the literary landscape is moving its attention away from the West.

Emma Shercliff

How is Nigeria's literary scene changing? Emma Shercliff, a publisher based in the nation's capital, Abuja, takes a look.

Despite a vibrant literary scene, Nigerian-based authors are not well known outside Nigeria

When I was last in the UK, I conducted a survey among dozens of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances in the UK publishing industry, asking, 'How many Nigerian authors can you name?'. Most people managed to identify Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Ben Okri, but not a single one of them mentioned an author based in Nigeria.

In recent times, the most widely read Nigerian novelists writing in English are those such as Helon Habila and Teju Cole, who now reside in the West. Despite first being discovered and published by Nigerian publishing houses, they have received affirmation at home by being published in the UK and US. However, there is an incredibly vibrant literary scene in Nigeria itself. It is gaining recognition, and a new BBC radio documentary, Writing a New Nigeria , profiles 15 authors, all of whom currently reside and write in the country.

Nigerian-based publishing houses are providing an outlet for new writers

Nigerian literary greats Amos Tutuola and Chinua Achebe were first published by UK publishing houses, Faber and Heinemann, in 1952 and 1958 respectively. This was the beginning of a long tradition of novels written by African authors being published in the West before being imported back to the author's country of origin. The celebrated Heinemann African Writers Series, established in London in 1962, had an enormous influence on the (predominantly male-authored) African literary canon, publishing more than 350 titles between 1962 and 2000. Popular novels, such as those published as part of Macmillan's Pacesetters series, were widely distributed and read throughout Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, although they were actually conceived, edited and illustrated in the UK. It has only been over the past ten years that a new generation of publishing houses – such as Kachifo, Cassava Republic and Parresia Publishers – have started publishing contemporary fiction in Nigeria. This is providing an outlet for a new generation of writers in a literary landscape still dominated by large educational publishing houses.

Nigerian authors are choosing to write for Nigerian audiences

Novelists Igoni Barrett, Lola Shoneyin and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani have all found success in the West, yet these authors remain grounded in Nigeria. Their works tackle weighty issues of identity, corruption and polygamy, and use humour and irony to great effect.

Poets such as Titilope Sonuga, Dike Chukwumerije, Dami Ajayi and Efe Paul Azino are writing firmly for a Nigerian audience. Their poems take on Nigeria's political, economic and social concerns, and often reflect contemporary events with an immediacy impossible in other forms. For example, Titilope Sonuga's powerful poem Hide and Seek was a direct response to the violence taking place in Northern Nigeria, and the kidnapping of 270 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014. She asks 'What do we do with all these bodies? How do we know whose arm goes where?', and states that her poem was written 'For the children of the Yobe Massacre, for the people of the Nyanya bombings, for the 200-plus girls still waiting and for all the nameless, faceless victims of a nation in crisis'.

More Northern Nigerian novelists are writing in English about unknown aspects of the country

Perhaps one of the most exciting literary developments of the past year is the emergence of novelists from the North, such as Elnathan John and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, who are writing in English about aspects of Nigeria that are as unknown to their fellow countrymen in Lagos, Ibadan and Enugu as they are to readers in the West. In this region, there is a strong tradition of authors writing in Hausa, but their work is rarely circulated outside the North, so outside exposure marks a departure from tradition in this case.

Ibrahim's novel Season of Crimson Blossoms is set in a conservative Hausa society and tells the story of an illicit relationship between a 55-year-old widow and a 25-year-old street gang leader. As Ibrahim explains in the BBC documentary, his aims were clear:

'It’s about telling people that there’s a lot more happening in the North than Boko Haram, than people killing people. It’s about humans, who have universal concerns, people who want to love, who suffer from heartbreaks, who have desires and ambitions and hopes...'.

Elnathan John's debut novel Born on a Tuesday , which has just been released in Nigeria and will be published in the UK in April 2016, looks at the personal stories behind the headlines. In the same documentary, he talks about the implications of story-telling. John argues that certain groups of people in Nigeria, such as Almajiri boys who receive Koranic education away from home, or poor people who roam the streets begging for food, are often reduced to numbers and figures, and their humanity forgotten. However, he says that telling stories is one way of providing 'some sort of nuanced approach' to how we talk about fundamentalism, culture, the relationship between the two, and also about violence and conflict.

As Nigerian writers and publishers become more confident, the literary landscape is moving its attention away from the West

The literary landscape in Nigeria is changing. The conversation about Nigerian writing, and, more widely, African writing, is taking place on the continent, without affirmation from the West. A series of readings, launches and festivals held in Nigeria over the past few months have generated much debate and excitement. The recent Ake Festival, held in Abeokuta, drew celebrated novelists Taiye Selasi and Helon Habila, as well as celebrated poet Niyi Osundare, to converse in Nigeria itself. In East Africa, the Kwani Litfest (Nairobi), Storymoja Festival (Nairobi) and Writivism Festival (Kampala) are now drawing in writers and guests from around the world.

Publishers are seeking to reflect authentic voices from the African continent

There is also an increased confidence among publishers. Rather than feeling the need to explain or mediate writing for the West, African publishers are seeking to reflect the authentic voice of the continent. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim's debut novel Season of Crimson Blossoms is peppered with Hausa; Eghosa Imasuen's Fine Boys has smatterings of pidgin throughout. Working with a publisher based in the country allows for a greater level of cultural understanding that is often much harder to achieve with an overseas publishing house. Author Elnathan John gives the example of working with an American editor who asked him what a 'go-slow' was. Every Nigerian knows the answer: it means a hold-up or traffic jam. He says, 'I use "go-slow" as an English word. Without apologies'.

Lagos-based publisher and author Eghosa Imasuen objects to the way in which Nigerian English has hitherto been represented on the page. As he explains in the documentary, the italicisation of words can be quite political: ' egusi ' would be italicised, but not the French word 'escargot'. He also objects to how things are explained unnecessarily for international audiences. For example, if you write 'He dipped his hand into the eba', a phrase will follow to explain that eba is 'that yellow globular mashed potato clone made from Cassava chippings'. When he talks about this his frustration is evident: 'You're like arrghhh, don't explain it, they can Google it!'

Bringing Nigerian writing to the UK without taking away the autonomy of Nigerian writers and publishers

Cassava Republic Press is one example of a publishing house that is breaking the mould. In a reversal from the traditional model, Cassava – now firmly established in Nigeria – has announced plans to establish a base in London from which to publish and distribute African authors. Publisher Bibi Bakare-Yusuf plans to bring Nigerian writing to the UK, strengthening the bonds between the two publishing landscapes, but without taking away the autonomy of Nigerian writers and publishers. A lack of distribution networks and myriad logistical challenges such as customs charges, poor road networks, and the high cost of transportation have until now prevented printed books from being more widely distributed out of Nigeria. Establishing a base in London will open up possibilities of distributing more titles more widely, including to East and Southern Africa.

Online literary magazines are bridging the void left by physical distribution challenges

Digital developments are also changing the landscape. Online literary magazines, such as Saraba Magazine and Jalada , are bridging the void left by physical distribution challenges. Their content, such as Jalada 's 2014 sex anthology, showcases confident African writing that needs no affirmation by the West. Ankara Press offers inspiring and entertaining stories by and for Africans, published in Nigeria, but available for purchase from anywhere on the globe.

The face of Nigerian, and African, literature is changing – the challenge is to keep your finger on the pulse.

Listen to Writing a New Nigeria , a two-part documentary programme produced by BBC Radio 4 as part of UK/Nigeria 2015-16, a major season of arts work in Nigeria.

Visit our literature site to find out more about our offer for writers and literature fans.

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15 Of The Best Nigerian Books

Erika Hardison

Erika Hardison is a writer, social media junkie, podcaster, publisher and aspiring novelist from Chicago currently residing in New Jersey. When she's not bridging the gap between Black feminism and superheroes on FabulizeMag.com, she's spending sleepless nights as a new mom with her talkative toddler playing and giggling under the covers.

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When was the last time you read a novel by a Nigerian author? If you haven’t, here is the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with some of the best Nigerian books by new and well-known writers from Nigeria.

I was only a teen when I was introduced to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart . It was an unusual book to me as a teen but it opened my eyes and mind to actively pursue literature from Black people who didn’t live in America. I think it’s important for people, especially Black and POC to embrace and educate themselves about cultures that differ from their own.

Throughout my adult years, I try to read books by authors who live in different parts of the world. However, when it comes to reading works from authors who are from Africa, it seems that Nigeria has the most visibility when it comes to seeking such material and content.

I love Nigerian customs and culture. Whether it’s the food, music, or clothing, every opportunity I’ve had to learn more about Nigeria and its history has been informative and delightful.

Whether you enjoy romance, sci-fi, mysteries or anything else in between, you’ll be able to find something you like. Even Netflix has a dedicated Nollywood category where viewers can stream an assortment of Nigerian shows based on the category they like.

This list is just a small sample of a growing number of Nigerian books and authors you should become familiar with. With a mix of upcoming and classics, you should be able to find some of the best Nigerian books to add to your TBR pile.

The Best Nigerian Books

Book cover of Coconut by Florence Olajide

Coconut: A Black Girl, a White Foster Family, and the Search for Belonging and Identity by Florence Oòlaìjiìdeì

Set in the 1960s, the family-based memoir follows the childhood of Florence who grows up in London. Her parents, both Nigerian, relocated for work to give their family a better life. However, with her parents working, she was placed with a foster family and saw her parents only occasionally. When her parents decided to move back to Nigeria, Florence didn’t feel she fit in because of her English mannerisms and her inability to speak Yoruba. Her memoir showcases her struggles with trying to fit in in different cultures despite both of them being her own.

Hope and Glory by Jendella Benson

Glory is a British Nigerian who has been living in Los Angeles living her best life. But once she gets word of her father’s death, she’s finds herself flying back to Europe. Once she arrives, her family drama is on full display. There’s a deep, dark secret that’s been brewing in her family and Glory has the ability to keep her family from drifting apart.

Cover of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi (May 24)

Feyi has suffered enough. After losing the love of her life in a terrible accident years ago, she is determined to find happiness again, moving to New York City to start over and further her art career. While with her friend she meets a man that she considers having a casual affair with. After all, he seems perfect, until she meets his sophisticated dad and you know what they say — the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing : A Memoir Across Three Continents cover

A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel (Nov 29)

This beautiful and poetic memoir follows the journey of Daniel’s family from Nigeria to England and America. Daniel recalls the culture shock she endured leaving Nigeria for England. From the weather changes, the cultural differences and the racism, Daniel felt she would never fit in. But Daniel found love and home in America when she traveled to California. Her resilience to life her life as a Nigerian, British, and American girl growing up under fundamentalist Christian and Islamic cultural influences gives hope to all Black diaspora people who want to take their culture to new places to call home.

The Legacy of Molly Southbourne (The Molly Southbourne Trilogy Book 3) by Tade Thompson (May 17)

This bloody sci-fi horror thriller is the conclusion to the Molly Southbourne series. If you haven’t read the first two, don’t worry because these novellas are a scary delight to get through. In this conclusion, Molly Southbourne is gone, but her spirit and sisters are still wandering about as they try to find peace and move on from their deadly past. However, the truth lives in Molly’s blood and there is no escaping no matter how hard they try.

Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable by Zain E. Asher (April 26)

CNN news anchor Asher delivers an emotional memoir that serves as a dedication to her mother. Asher relives her childhood as she reflects the sacrifices and the strength her mother displayed after her father succumbed to fatal injuries in a car accident. Her mother challenged her and her siblings by using tough love and Nigerian parenting techniques that groomed her children for success. From creating a book club to cutting out newspaper clippings of inspirational Black people, Asher makes her mother a superhero in her inspiring memoir.

Book cover of Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults)

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein

Top Chef star Kwame Onwuachi adapted his book for a YA audience last year because he wanted to inspire younger readers as well. Onwuachi grew up in the Bronx and even though his father is Nigerian, he was in for a bit of a shock when his mother sent him to Nigeria with his grandpa. This memoir serves as a testament to how culture, food and perseverance can overcome any challenges and it can be delicious, too!

Wahala: A Novel by Nikki May

A challenging story that covers race and class and how it impacts a group of friends. These friends are biracial mixed with Nigerian and they view the world through their rose-tinted glasses. Bound by Eurocentric ideas of beauty such as “good hair,” this novel sheds light on how marginalized groups can still benefit from privilege.

Operation Sisterhood by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

If you’re an only child, you probably have thought about how your life would be different if you had siblings. For Bo, that reality came true once her mother started dating Bill and they moved to Harlem, New York. Now Bo and her mother are living with Bill and his daughter as well as another couple and their twin daughters. Bo’s newfound sisterhood is making their family closer and their community stronger.

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

There’s a lot of Nigerian literary fiction available now, but have you ever considered trying out a Nigerian political thriller? This book is a fast-paced story about university students being killed and a government official assigning a criminal psychologist named Dr. Taiwo on the case. Dr. Taiwo isn’t a cop and he’s only there to determine the motive of the perpetrators, but he finds himself going down a rabbit hole of political corruption and conspiracies — now his life in is danger.

The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo

Igharo delivers a Nollywood-style romance that involves a young woman named Hannah. Hannah doesn’t know much about her Nigerian father, except that he’s dead and now she’s on a flight preparing to meet the family she’s never met before. She quickly realizes that her father had wealth but the chaos leading to her father’s funeral reveals family secrets while Hannah continues to struggle how she can navigate Nigerian culture.

The How: Notes on the Great Work of Meeting Yourself by Yrsa Daley-Ward

Yrsa Daley-Ward is half Jamaican and half Nigerian, and her poetry book doubles as an exploration of self-help book about self-love. From Beyoncé to Instagram, she has had her powerful words reposted and shared countless of times. While Daley-Ward has penned beautiful and thoughtful words across social media, she continues to uplift others with her words of affirmations and encouragement.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the most celebrated books in African and world literature. One of the main characters of this story is Okonkwo who embodies a lot of negative traits that he tries to justify as a positive. Now on the verge of being colonized by the British, Okonkwo looks to his ancestors for their wisdom to help him survive.

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Yinka considers herself a success. She has a good job, graduated from a prestigious school, and has the best friends she can ask for. But that doesn’t stop her mother from always asking her where is her huzband ? For Yinka’s mother, her life isn’t complete unless she gets married and have children. That makes Yinka reevaluate her life as she learns that before anyone else can love her she has to love herself first.

The Carnivorous City (Lagos Noir) by Toni Kan

This book reminds of the the lyrics by Goya Menor and Nektunez called Ameno Amapiano. “You want to bamba? You want to chill with the big boys?” are the lyrics and I feel this song would be the perfect song if this book has a soundtrack. Soni is well-known for being a boss and gangster in Lagos but now that he’s gone missing. Now his brother Abel is back home and is looking for him. Abel finds himself caught between criminals with old beef with his brother and corrupt public servants that want to cash in on his family’s misfortunes.

Did you enjoy this list? If so, check out this informative round-up of Nigerian feminist reads to add to your TBR.

The Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 (So Far)

Postcolonial Literatures in the Local Literary Marketplace pp 81–140 Cite as

Nigeria: Nigerian Literature and/as the Market

Jenni Ramone 4
First Online: 07 August 2020

256 Accesses

Part of the book series: New Comparisons in World Literature ((NCWL))

This chapter argues that the Nigerian market, a place for meeting, negotiation, reflection, and trade, is also central to the meaning of reading and the contingent position of the Nigerian author within their local literary marketplace. The chapter asks what reading means in Nigerian literature noting the significance of education and the market, in Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel , Chinua Achebe’s No Longer At Ease , Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, Chihundu Onuzo’s Welcome to Lagos , Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s I Do Not Come to you by Chance , Chris Abani’s Graceland , and Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Dangerous Love . Onitsha Market Literature illustrates the central position of the market in Nigerian literature and literary culture.

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Abani, Chris. 2005. Graceland . New York: Picador.

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Ramone, J. (2020). Nigeria: Nigerian Literature and/as the Market. In: Postcolonial Literatures in the Local Literary Marketplace. New Comparisons in World Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56934-9_3

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A brief History Of Nigerian Literature in English: The preamble

I was a palm-wine drinkard since I was a boy of ten years of age. I had no other work than to drink palm wine in my life. In those days, we did not know other money except cowries, so that everything was very cheap, and my father was the richest man in our town.

That passage is what is is now regarded as the first paragraph in Nigerian Literature. But is it really? To do justice to the question, one needs to first differentiate between Nigerian literature and Nigerian Literature in English.

Nigerian literature is ANY body of imaginative work by a Nigerian, made for Nigerians, while Nigerian literature in English is any piece of imaginative work written in English. The palm wine drinkard might have been the first Nigerian literature in English, but definitely not the first piece of literature in the country.

Imperialism no doubt was behind the notion that Nigerian societies before the colonial masters were primitive and lacked sensibilities. The European on stepping on the shores of the continent wrote about its inhabitants lacking artistic talents, or any ability to create arts even though the opposite was staring them in the face. To them, Nigerians only got engaged in making literature after the 1882 ordinance that mandated English to be taught in Nigerian schools.

Literature, therefore, is more than an imaginative epistle

African literature as a whole and Nigerian literature in particular was not birthed by the presence of the colonial masters, but rather, existed in myths, folktales, legends, songs and other various forms centuries before Europeans invaded the continent. That period is what is known as the classical period of Nigerian literature. Literature is a vehicle of ideologies; a composition of language that serves as a cultural representation of a people. Literature, therefore, is more than an imaginative epistle.

Nigerian literature before the 19th centuries was in form of orature. And as is the case in any society, literature comes first in orality, and only much later did it metamorphosize into written form, and Nigeria is no different. Although it has to be said that recording Nigerian oral literature is a tad difficult as its practitioners were, more often than not, members of a cult who jealously guarded certain knowledge.

Ruth Finnegan’s book Oral literature in Africa (1970) is an eye opener, and states, without mincing words, that African and Nigerian literature were in vibrant stages before the whites arrived, and that Africans had organised, and developed replacements for the written form. Songs were sung at weddings; poetry were read to praise gods; tales were performed at town gatherings; each family had their own peculiar poetry, and stories were told to praise legends. Nigerian Oral literature were a source of entertainment, philosophies, and beliefs, and involved verbal storytelling perfected to an art form.

Folktales were dramatic replacements for the novel. They are an imaginative form of narrative literature woven around well liked characters, sometimes even animals, as they relate with the physical world, or sometimes, the supernatural world. In the Eastern and Western part of the country, the tortoise is a star of many such tales. These stories, maybe not written, nonetheless have characters, plot, beginning and end, and even epiphanies. The same applied to myths – which were tales about death, afterlife, or creation and the supernatural. Sometimes, it looks like an earlier version of today’s science fiction.

The Europeans brought their own literature, written in books, and that, combined with the return of Samuel Ajayi Crowther made Nigerians see the need to record their stories and culture, and thus the beginning of Nigerian literature in a written format. And even as a written form, Nigerian literature didn’t start in 1952 when Amos Tutuola published the Palmwine Drinkard.

By the 1930’s, the Hausas already had a writing competition in place, and winning entries, including Shehu Umar by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa were published.

Hausa literature dates back centuries before the palm wine Drinkard. Infact, it got to a peak after Usman Dan Fodio and Islamic scholars brought Arabic into Hausa territory. By the 1930’s, the Hausas already had a writing competition in place, and winning entries, including Shehu Umar by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa were published. The stories were written in Ajami – a mixture of Arabic and Hausa.

Samuel Ajayi Crowther translated the Bible into Igbo (He also translated the Bible into Yoruba), and that was the first body of written work in the Igbo language. It took until 1933 before the first novel in Igbo – Umenuko, by Pita Uwana, was published. The population boom in the 40’s also saw a rise in publishing houses in the East. Cypwian Ekwensi was one of many writers of the Onitsha literary scene with stories like When love whispers; a love story, and Ikolo the wrestlers and other Igbo tales. Another popular work was Chika Okonyia’s Tragic Niger Tales. The Onitsha literary scene will eventually produce over 200 works.

In the mid to late 1800’s, Itan Segilola Eleyinjuege by Isaac B. Thomas was written, but wasn’t published until 1930. It is actually regarded by many to be the first piece of written literature in the country.

In the mid to late 1800’s, Itan Segilola Eleyinjuege by Isaac B. Thomas was written, but wasn’t published until 1930. It is actually regarded by many to be the first piece of written literature in the country. It preceded D.O Fagunwa’s Ogboju-ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole(1930) by at least nine years. Fagunwa’s story would later be translated to Yoruba by Wole Soyinka (The forest of A Thousand Daemons)

Although The Palmwine Drinkard might well be the first Nigerian literature in English, it still had it roots in Oral literature. It was written in a vernacular style that made it look as if it was meant to be performed and not read, and the story borrowed from orasure, as it was already a popular one passed down for generations. It must be said though that the former reason no doubt was connected to Fagunwa’s limited education.

Although The Palmwine Drinkard might well be the first Nigerian literature in English, it still had it roots totally meshed in Oral literature.

The story became a bit controversial for the above reasons, as some Nigerian critics failed to see it as a body of imaginative work, and others were ashamed of the grammar and use-of English. The book was accepted overseas, receiving numerous rave reviews and was subsequently heralded, quite wrongly, as the first piece of literature in Nigeria.

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Folio Nigeria

“‘Our Literature Has Died Again’: Nigerian Writing in the Era of the Nomadists”

Kanyinsola olorunnisola.

August 17, 2023

Two years ago, I wrote an essay that may haunt me for the rest of my life. It left undeniable evidence of my anti-patriotism, my emotional treason against the green-and-white, backed by coldblooded remorselessness. I may have embraced the darkly comical aphorism that “the best way to be a Nigerian is to be a Nigerian in the diaspora.” That, and the social critic Ayo Sogunro’s quotable summary: Everything in Nigeria is going to kill you .

When I started that essay, I was a cliche: a church rat, a cart-pulling mule, another Lagos writer bending over for some non-literary industry that wanted nothing more than to undo him. I worked late-nights for garri grains, with no likelihood that my talents would ever earn me a satisfactory life, let alone the kind of celebrity I read about in foreign newspapers and magazines, the kind enjoyed by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , by Ben Okri , by Nnedi Okorafor, all to varying extents. I wanted nothing more than to get out of my fuckfest of a country.

By the time the essay came out, I was stuffing my jeans and shirts into a Ghana-must-go, about to become a different kind of cliché: just one of thousands of young Nigerians who decided to jápa, to leave behind the country that birthed and bruised them, to seek new homes in various forms of elsewhere. My own elsewhere was the United States.

I joined the newly infamous coterie of Nigerian writers who found refuge within the grand, slave-built walls of American universities, in hopes of securing the much-loved, much-loathed M.F.A. degree. I had become what the culture critic Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, in a provocative essay entitled “ The Death of Nigerian Literature ,” called “the Nigerian literary immigrant.” And, given the notorious population of writers in a country of over 200 million, who knows how many of us there are?

To be a Nigerian Literary Immigrant is to be a traitor of sorts, some now imply. It is to be a new kind of punching bag. Your association with Western culture is taken as a blemish on your authenticity, and you will have to read fellow writers wonder aloud if the literature you create should be considered part of the national canon.

The authenticity debate used to make me insecure. In my first days here, another African student insinuated that Americans relate to my work because I erase my cultural context. My first instinct was to get defensive, to talk about how my novel-in-progress is influenced almost entirely by pre-colonial West African spirituality and aesthetics. But I soon realized that that comment was not personal, at least not entirely personal. It reflected a specific artistic anxiety in which people equated external influence with loss.

It is an old anxiety. In 1963, when Obi Wali lamented “ The Dead End of African Literature ,” bemoaning how the bulk of it was produced mainly in colonial languages, a rigorous discourse followed. But Aigbokhaevbolo’s essay, which has significantly different concerns from Wali’s, has been followed by a curious indulgence here and a tepid pushback there or, well, tweets or, worst, agreements, no matter how reasoned . Because there has been no actual counter-argument, that narrative continues. Our literature has died again. The glory days are behind us again. We are always headed for doom . K’ọ́lọ́un ṣàánú.

This tedious obsession, this puritan misinterpretation of belonging and authenticity, should not be taken as the definitive story.

The “search for a better life has resulted in both the depletion of Nigerian writers and Nigerian writing,” Aigbokhaevbolo argues, and links this to the emigration of writers with whom he “shot the breeze” at places like Freedom Park, Lagos. But such a claim as the death of an entire country’s literature needs to be backed by more than a single writer’s immediate vicinity and experience. It seems to have stemmed from at least two questionable premises: that the critic’s own limited circle in Lagos represents the entire literary industry; and that the writers abroad, more specifically the M.F.A. crowd, are not doing much writing.

The first premise and its eventual argument are nearsighted and dismissive. Let me introduce a rather controversial idea: the literary scene exists beyond Lagos! Nigerian writers are doing more work than we have seen in a long time. There are lively literary communities in Ibadan , in Nsukka , in Awka , in digital spaces undefined by geography.

Recent years have seen the rise of new organisations. We have seen 20.35 Africa , whose anthology series is bridging gaps in the conversation around African poetry, and Agbowó , a literary and arts hub with a magazine that publishes bi-annual issues. There is Isele , which runs its own prizes . There is A Long House , which publishes contemplations of Blackness and administers an editorial fellowship. SprinNG , which I co-founded in Ibadan, raises money to support young Nigerian writers through its Women Authors Prize, an advancement fellowship, a writing fellowship, and an M.F.A. Academy.

Open Country Mag has changed African literary journalism with its longform Profiles, features, and reviews, and is solving decades-old infrastructure gaps with its The Next Generation series and a curatorial fellowship , and this year collaborated with bookstore Rovingheights to publish the first ever formal bestseller list in Nigerian literature . There is Za! , whose debut issue delves into African spirituality. And there is Efiko Mag , run by Aigbokhaevbolo himself, which gave us the essay I am responding to.

These platforms are presenting work that deserve critical attention. Some of the writers who run them live in Nigeria. Most of the rest who now live elsewhere founded them while in Nigeria. How could one pronounce our literature dead with this beating heart?

Aigbokhaevbolo’s second premise assumes that Nigerian literary emigration is a unique development that equals abandonment of the industry, and so has been negative for productivity. It is not. The emigration of writers is not a Nigerian phenomenon. There is nowhere in the world in which writing is a stable lucrative path, not like medicine, not like tech. To commit to a literary career is to stare directly into an abyss, to witness its dark nothingness and still fling yourself right into its mouth, hoping to find some semblance of light. Masochist stuff, really. God help us. So from everywhere else writers are emigrating to the West, which has the structure to support it in small ways. This is a positive thing, and it has led to a circumstance in which Nigerian writers in M.F.A. programs are writing more than they ever did but are not publishing their work at the rate you would expect if you were not within the system.

And it makes perfect sense.

Back in Nigeria, I existed in this nonspace of seeking recognition. I wanted to publish as much as possible so I could get readership. There was a restlessness, a need to keep doing and to keep showing that I could publish in this and that place, that I could have an enviable bio.

But then came the M.F.A., a major currency for a young writer, which gives you permission to slow down and calm yourself, to pay attention to the creation and perfection of the work rather than its immediate publication. Weekly workshops taught me to be more critical of my work, to keep producing in silence until I was truly ready to share the work. The small-small publications here and there that I had once chased to give my career some appearance of progression no longer cut it. I had to dream bigger. And to achieve that, I needed to sit down and work myself to the bone, workshop the work to death. Weekly phone calls with writer-friends all over the U.S. confirm that I am not alone in this experience, and that it pays dividends.

Since their respective inhabitations of the Literary Immigrant identity, we have seen the releases of, among others, Arinze Ifeakandu ‘s God’s Children Are Little Broken Things , Romeo Oriogun ‘s Sacrament of Bodies and Nomad , Logan February ‘s Fuckboys , Gbenga Adeoba’s Exodus , and Ukamaka Olisakwe ‘s Ogadinma, or Everything Will Be All Right . We have been told to anticipate Ugochukwu Damian Okpara’s In Gorgeous Display , Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots and The Suicide Mothers , Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s Blessings , yours truly’s Shakespeares in the Ghetto , to name a few.

Look at Open Country Mag ‘s annual anticipated and notable book lists and see the slow increase in the number of writers who left Nigeria for an M.F.A. and now have books ready. So the claims that “the Nigerian writer is not heavily involved in the production of literary writing anymore,” and that “to be a Nigerian writer these days is not to be a writer at all,” ignores all the good writing that is already here. One should at least buy and read them before declaring our literature dead.

What is most curious is that Aigbokhaevbolo does not mention the names of writers that belong to this non-productive group. Perhaps if he had been committed to specificity, to the rigor of naming and identifying, to being more microscopic than abstract, he would have realized the flaws in his argument.

This convenient omission is shared by another recent lamentation, this time by the poet Ernest Ogunyemi, a former staff writer for this magazine . His essay, “ Is Contemporary Nigerian Poetry Nigerian? “, is an otherwise necessary critique that suffers from far too many moments of puerility. One feels as though they just read literary criticism deployed as a smokescreen for a diss. Perhaps intended to be inflammatory, it got a predictable level of attention. But no response has actually engaged its gripe with contemporary poetry. Perhaps critics do not see the potentially striking points that an actually edited version of the essay would have made?

It is another return of the authenticity question. À fi authenticity yíì náà! Ogunyemi proposes an essentialism that doubles as a petitio principii fallacy, identifying a Nigerian poem through its “placement of Nigerian things” and “Nigerianness” in its lines, as though there were a singular definition of “Nigerian,” as though a Nigerian identity were not in itself rooted in a colonialist fantasy, as though Nigerianness as a cultural or aesthetic signifier were not a nonsensical facade when queried to its existential limits. That stance betrays the critic’s belief in his own conception of Nigerian as the center, and that everything else that does not fit into that is inauthentic. What else could prompt phrasing like “an American poem written by a Nigerian”?

I am a sworn Afrocentrist. But while I would also love to see more cultural lore, spirituality, and code-mixing in our poetry, no one’s intellectual allegiance should be enough to invalidate the inclusion of others’ poetry within such a broad description as “Nigerianness.” You are either Nigerian or you are not; and the poetry you put out automatically has a claim within Nigerian writing. The Nigerianness of a poem is in the Nigerianness of its poet, no matter how they navigate or evade said Nigerianness. This is true of poetry, even though it would be debatable with fiction and nonfiction.

While Ogunyemi’s essay would have come out better if he were guided by a capable editor, no one should pretend that some of its arguments have no merits. He writes that “Nigerian poets are not interested in Nigeria,” that “the world around us is not interesting to us.” I agree to an extent. There is not enough poetry about both the mundane and sociopolitical realities of life back home. Not enough poems about Tinubu, about fuel scarcity, about the sweet palm oil stench of Oje market in Ibadan. We need to encourage more of those. But that certainly does not mean that whomever chooses to not do this is not writing Nigerian poetry. They simply have other concerns that are just as valid.

Aigbokhaevbolo makes good points as well. The most interesting is that there is silence around what happens when writers leave for their M.F.A.s. A disturbing, numbing silence. But the silence is not because Literary Immigrants are not writing at all; it is simply because they are not writing or talking much about their lives after migration. Like most people, before applying for my M.F.A., I had no idea what to expect, how to go about the process. I resorted to reading American writers’ accounts on blogs, unsure how much of their advice was relevant to my situation.

But things are changing. The writer Ucheoma Onwutuebe has detailed her experience; later, she joined a panel conversation of M.F.A. students, moderated by me for SprinNG and attended by 169 people, to discuss the academic, literary, and emotional aspects of immigration. The poet Itiola Jones, who is American Nigerian, recently hosted a two-day SprinNG session on how to apply for M.F.A.s. As more writers speak and write about their own experiences, that gap will be filled.

A truce then with Aigbokhaevbolo and Ogunyemi. There is sense in their overall arguments; they have hit sore points that our literary culture lacks the range to appreciate thoroughly, but they have done it from incomplete perspectives. Where Aigbokhaevbolo does not acknowledge the existence of Nigerian works that do not appeal to his peculiar interests, Ogunyemi denies the validity of works that do not fit into his limited definition.

Ogunyemi is taking a Nativist position. (He belongs to what I now call the Tiwani School, after a Yoruba phrase loosely translatable as Na we get am ). For literary Nativists, including the influential Obi Wali, writing must prioritize culturally locatable aesthetics and indigenous linguistic elements. But Nativism is insufficient in a changing world, and even less for the literary culture of a formerly colonized country.

What makes culture criticism more intellectually interesting is the ability to not only identify trends and shifts but to name them, so that we can track their progress, their push-and-pull against other current traditions, their evolution. Until a development is named, we are trapped in unproductive conversations that never go beyond “authenticity.”

But naming is rather rare in Nigerian and African literature today. The most recent effort was by Otosirieze , the founder and editor of this magazine, who, in his introduction to the 2018 anthology Selves: An Afro Anthology of Creative Nonfiction , christened a crop of young African nonfiction writers “ The Confessional Generation ,” due to their being “unshackled, unspooling confessions in a hitherto unconventional manner.” It was the first time that anyone had pinpointed what is now a noticeable embrace, in African literature, of Americanisms.

So now we have the Nativists, on the one hand, and on the other, the specific category of writers that Aigbokhaevbolo and Ogunyemi’s essays deny legitimacy. Like their critics, these writers are part of the Fourth Generation of Nigerian literature. Like that of the Confessional writers, their approach demands a more specific term, a definition separate from those working in the tradition erroneously deemed the pinnacle of authenticity. We need to understand them as a literary subculture, like the Beat Generation and the New Negro Movement in the U.S., like the Oulipo in France.

Context: In recent years, disillusionment with the Nigerian identity has become more pronounced, with most Nigerians hoping to exist almost anywhere else. Seven out of every 10 Nigerians living in the country are making plans to leave. Desperate Nigerians are taking to sea to escape. (The Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2014 has led to a more stifling life for a lot of queer women and men in an already bigoted society; in 2017, seven out of every 10 Nigerian asylum requests in Ontario, Canada were based on sexual persecution). It is a brain drain owed to a host of calamities: failed leadership, insecurity, inflation, unemployment.

Like the rest of their leaving compatriots, some of the leaving writers are disillusioned and express little patriotism toward a birth country that has failed to offer them the flourish they deserve. What we are seeing is that they have become the voices of the entire non-literary generation: the Jápa Generation. These writers are nomads in their work, many untethered to any space in aesthetic. Existentially speaking, they are always on the road, comfortably in flux. These writers, I call the Nomadic Generation.

(An American antecedent: In the 1920s, a number of American writers — disillusioned with their country’s post-war realities of crass materialism, censorship, economic uncertainty, and intellectual drought — migrated to Paris, then seen as the cultural capital of the Western world, where fashion, music, dance, art, and literature flourished. These writers are today referred to as the Lost Generation, a term introduced to the zeitgeist by Ernest Hemingway, who credited Gertrude Stein with coming up with it. The books that came out it? Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence , F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises , with its defense of his disadvantaged generation’s resilience.)

We Nomadists have a keen obsession with the idea of home, locating it in its nonexistence, in the futile and tragic search for it. In “Seafarers,” Adeoba situates us within the imagery of the liminal as an ironic replacement for home:

Bordered by kelp— brown murals supple as wool— and a cloud of winged witnesses, our boat is somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean, miles and miles from the coast near Tobruk in Libya, where we had camped until the smugglers and the sea spoke of its fidelity.

In “The Sea Dreams of Us,” Oriogun presents the body, the one physical thing that we can all lay claim to, as a more reliable marker of heritage than allegiance to one’s country, to the arbitrary borders of nationhood:

The girl laughs at the sea, saying, our bodies are countries outside of borders. We watch the night, the return of boats, the sky above Accra. The horizon beckons, the ship waits with our journey. What have you given up? I ask her. Exile is also silence—she says.

In “my mother makes memories crawl on my skin,” Okpara expresses his bitterness at his countrymen’s contribution to his stifling, his inability to express sexual want without fear of consequence:

i pay the conductor whose eyes hold beauty & charm whose arms i want to make a home he takes the money i begin to wonder where the pain aches more & if i could run my tongue on him in search of the fire that burns i know he finds joy elsewhere other than home . . . a passenger starts to pray he asks god for journey mercies i bite my lips & pray that god neglects their prayers like he does mine.

I call these writers Nomadists because of their complication of nationalism and their geographical movements in search of fresh pasture for the livestock that is their art. They are unencumbered by any ties to nationhood because of, among other things, the absence of an urgent postcolonial reality, military rule, or the pressure to be in conversation with previous generations. They have no inclination toward a nationalist aesthetic, not for the sake of a country that has failed them and their parents. One might argue that the rebelliousness of the Fourth Generation of Nigerian literature peaks with the Nomadists.

The Fourth Generation writers are shapeshifters, always rejecting or renegotiating terms that do not suit them. No previous generation had been so thoroughly defined by its appetite for adventure and resistance to definition. They are also changing our understanding of genres. In their hands, speculative fiction has become more integral to Nigerian literature. (One could argue that it is exactly their disillusionment with Nigerianness that leads many of them to seek out fashioned worlds that ignore or significantly alter the reality of what it is to be Nigerian.)

They have an unbound ability to explore territories for artistic inspiration. It is what has allowed them to be confessional. It is what has enabled them to center queer desire, queer life, queer be-ing in a way that had never been done before. And it is why the Nomadists among them now produce poetry that could be attributed to poets of almost any other nationality — how they are able to give voice to their larger generation’s jápa ambitions. (For a fuller understanding of this variety, one need only look at Open Country Mag ‘s The Next Generation series.)

We can, and should, have several traditions and subcultures within the same period in Nigerian literature. The Nativists and the Nomadists have different approaches and that is what makes our literature alive. But the Nativists have to acknowledge that the Nomadists are as Nigerian and are making a different and indispensable contribution by reflecting society.

I want us to deepen this conversation about subcultures. Not all writers in jápa mode are disconnected enough from nationalistic concerns to be called Nomadist. But do the ones who are consider themselves so? Why not publish an anthology under whatever name they deem themselves? I am interested in the new trends, the shifts, that this generation will contribute to the evolution of our literature. There is uncertainty about the path they will take us on — getting published is an uncertain path and there are challenges of building infrastructure at home — but it is dizzying. The future of Nigerian literature is positively terrifying. Our literature is alive.

I suppose what is dying is the enthusiasm paid toward the work we are creating. No one is obligated to read what or who does not interest them. But there is a fine line between dismissing people’s work and erasing it entirely. So we need to actually engage the work we are critiquing, and our critiques need to go beyond binaries. We need to think clearer about how we are thinking about Nigerian literature. ♦

Edited by Otosirieze.

More Essays & Fiction from Open Country Mag

— River Spirit by Leila Aboulela

— “ The Nigerian Oppression, as Chinua Achebe Would See It ”: Emmanuel Esomnofu

— The Quality of Mercy by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu

— Between Starshine and Clay by Sarah Ladipo Manyika

— “ Revel, Again, in the Beautiful Absurd ”: Ernest Ogunyemi

— Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga

— Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

— We Once Belonged to the Sea by Diriye Osman

— “Creating a New Tradition in African Poetry”: 20.35 Africa VI : Introduction

— Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race by Remi Adekoya

— The Fugitives by Jamal Mahjoub

I joined the infamous coterie of Nigerian writers who found refuge within the grand, slave-built walls of American universities, in hopes of securing the much-loved, much-loathed M.F.A. degree.

To be a Nigerian Literary Immigrant is to be a traitor of sorts, some now imply. It is to be a new kind of punching bag. Your association with Western culture is a blemish on your authenticity, and fellow writers wonder if the literature you create should be considered part of the national canon.

Aigbokhaevbolo’s essay has been followed mostly by tepid pushbacks or, well, tweets or, worst, agreements: Our literature has died again. The glory days are always behind us.

The emigration of writers is not a Nigerian thing. From everywhere else writers are emigrating to the West, which has the structure to support it in small ways. This is a positive thing.

These platforms are presenting work that deserve critical attention. Some of the writers who run them live in Nigeria. The rest who now live elsewhere founded them while in Nigeria. How could one pronounce our literature dead with this beating heart?

[Emigration] has led to a circumstance in which Nigerian writers in M.F.A. programs are writing more than they ever did but are not publishing their work at the rate you would expect if you were not within the system.

Perhaps if he had been committed to specificity, to the clarity of naming and identifying, to being more microscopic than abstract, he would have realized the flaws in his argument.

It is an otherwise necessary critique that is blemished by far too many moments of puerility. One feels as though they just read literary criticism deployed as a smokescreen for a diss.

While I would also love to see more cultural lore, spirituality, and code-mixing in our poetry, neither my intellectual allegiance nor Ogunyemi’s should be enough to invalidate the inclusion of others’ poetry within such a broad description as “Nigerianness.”

A truce then with Aigbokhaevbolo and Ogunyemi. There is sense in their overall arguments, they have hit sore points that our literary culture lacks the range to appreciate thoroughly, but they have done it from incomplete perspectives.

I call these writers Nomadists because of their complication of nationalism and their geographical movements in search of fresh pasture for the livestock that is their art.

4 Responses

Well writing Kanyinsola!

Great write-up. Captures succinctly, the current literary scape in Nigeria.

The Versus Syndrome is such a perennial scourge. Thanks for introducing a most necessary anti-thesis. Although a Nativist myself, I still think we need a synthesized outlook on the nature and truth of things.

Interesting. But the point must still be made: Nomadists can do as they please and write what they like; that place they have fled, its cultural assumptions and presumed values, define them. Nothing will change that. And I do not perceive Nigeria as a place to flee. I see it as a place to fight for, the way the places we flee to fought for theirs. We need to stop making japa-tistic excuses for migrating. If you must go, go. Nobody can stop you, and nobody will engage the resultant challenges for you. Just write. Some of us will read.

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The Nigerian Oppression, as Chinua Achebe Would See It

Emmanuel esomnofu.

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25 Powerful Books About Nigeria & Nigerian Culture

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Explore fantastic books about Nigeria as well as popular and famous Nigerian novels and authors to read before you go.

Are you searching for books set in Nigeria to read before you travel there?

We just love picking up destination books to transport us abroad, setting the backdrop as well as teaching us more.

Below, uncover Nigerian books that showcase the effects of colonialism, war, immigration, and migration. Oftentimes, these books also teach us about identity, trauma, grief, friendship, family, love, and marriage.

Then, find popular Nigerian novels about the LGBT community, magic, polygamy, and, well, murderous sisters…

We loved fictional Nigerian books like Ties That Tether (romance), The Death Of Vivek Oji (LGBT+), and My Sister, the Serial Killer (slasher noir).

Lastly, meet popular Nigerian authors to add to your reading list, including Oyinkan Braithwaite, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinua Achebe, and Akwaeke Emezi.

Be sure to let us know your favorite books by Nigerian authors in the comments. We are always adding to our reading lists. Let’s get started!

Discover even more books set, about, and from Africa .

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Table of Contents

Best Books About Nigeria & Nigerian Culture And History

Skin of the sea by natasha bowen.

From Nigerian-Welsh author, Natasha Bowen, find a mermaid tale rooted in Western African mythology.

The goddess Yemoja transforms Simidele into a Mami Wata when her captors throw her into the ocean, killing her.

While grateful and tasked with the important job of seeing equally discarded souls back home, Simi can’t seem to let go of her human roots.

When Simi finds Kola dying in the water, she has to save him. She has no idea how such an action will upset the Supreme Creator, Olodumare, risking the extinction of the Mami Wata.

Kola and Simi begin a dangerous journey to save all that they know and love while also falling for each other, which as you can imagine, breaks another rule.

Books about Nigeria and West African mythology, culture, and history don’t get any more engrossing than Skin of the Sea .

Behind the world of mythical beings, fairies, and temperamental gods, witness the horrors of the slave trade.

Read Skin of the Sea : Amazon | Goodreads

Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Said to be one of the best historical fiction books about Nigeria, Half of a Yellow Sun portrays Biafra’s struggle to become an independent republic in the 1960s.

The novel shares just one part of Nigeria’s tumultuous history after British Independence and the Nigerian Civil War, or the Biafran War.

Follow Ugwu, Olanna, and Richard: Ugwu works for a University professor, Olanna is the professor’s mistress, and Richard is a timid British man.

With the advancement of the Nigerian troops, all three must run for their lives to survive.

Half Of A Yellow Sun is a powerful and slow-burn story about colonialism, race, power, class, and love.

Uncover even more books with the color yellow in the title .

Read Half Of A Yellow Sun : Amazon | Goodreads

Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

One of the best newer Nigerian books on this reading list – and for romance lovers – Ties That Tether follows Azere as she battles marrying outside of her culture.

Born in Nigeria, Azere and her family move to Canada. On her father’s deathbed, she promises him that she will marry an Edo man, which is not so easy in Canada.

Enter gorgeous and sincere – and white – Rafael during a one-night stand. Rafael turns out to be Azere’s new coworker, and for many reasons, she cannot let him go.

Azere must determine how to celebrate her Nigerian heritage while remaining true to her heart, even if her mother disowns her. Not to mention that Rafael has a few secrets of his own.

A poignant multicultural romance about love, Igharo examines the battles interracial couples face in themselves and within their families.

Azere is a strong but loyal woman who cannot say no to her stubborn mother.

For fictional books about Nigeria, readers learn more about Nigerian culture along with Rafael. Themes of forgiveness and love encase the plot.

Read Ties That Tether : Amazon | Goodreads

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

One of the must-read Nigerian novels and series includes Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy .

The first of the three books, Things Fall Apart portrays European colonialism and its effects on the people of Nigeria.

Things Fall Apart was first published two years before Nigerian Independence from the British in the 1950s and focuses on pre-colonial life.

Okonkwo is a successful farmer – and self-made man – with a family of three wives and many children.

Anger and fear rule his life, though, and readers watch Okonkwo’s reactions as a new power takes over.

Things Fall Apart is also said to be “one of the most beloved novels” by The Great American Read , and Barack Obama called it a “true classic of world literature.”

Read Things Fall Apart : Amazon | Goodreads

More Books By Nigerian Author, Chinua Achebe:

No Longer at Ease (The African Trilogy Book 2) – The grandson of Okonkwo, Obi, returns from England after finishing his education. He finds himself trapped between two worlds and struggles with the corruption of the ruling elite.
Arrow Of God (The African Trilogy Book 3) – Rivals threaten Ezeulu, the chief priest of the god Ulu, and his power under the rule of the colonial government. He is prepared to fight at all costs, believing he is indestructible.
There Was a Country – Achebe’s memoir of the Nigerian Civil War, or Biafran War, of 1967–1970.
The Trouble With Nigeria – Chinua Achebe examines the problems within Nigeria, such as the failure of leadership, and wishes to inspire Nigerians to reject their prohibiting former habits.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin

A story about polygamy in modern-day Nigeria, Nigerian poet and writer, Lola Shoneyin, shares the complex life of family politics and polygamous marriages.

Baba Segi isn’t the most desirable of husbands, but his wives all feel that he has saved them from worse fates.

His newest wife, Bolanli, who is educated, upsets the dynamics of his three other wives.

Bolanli cannot conceive, though, and when the other wives attempt to push her from the home, their household falls further apart.

Most exciting for the Nigerian books on this reading list, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is set to become a Netflix TV series.

You know we just love a good book-to-movie adaptation .

Read The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives : Amazon | Goodreads

Even More Books On Nigeria Life, Culture, & History:

Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta – A novel inspired by Nigerian folktales, watch as Ijeoma struggles toward selfhood while Nigeria recovers from war and prejudices.

Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo – Not wanting to kill innocent civilians, Chike Ameobi travels to Lagos and straight into a scandal involving the education minister. Chike pulls together a group of runaways that all want the chance at a better life.

Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka – Nobel Prize-winning Soyinka shares growing up in a Yoruba village in Western Africa before WW2.

Where can you wander next around the African continent? Travel to South Africa with these books .

The Death Of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

For the best books of 2020 , The Death of Vivek Oji is one of the must-read LGBTQ+ books set in Nigeria.

You will feel the ambiance and culture of Nigeria in every chapter.

The story begins with the death of Vivek Oji. His naked and bleeding body lay across his mother’s doorstep. No one knows how this cruel tragedy happened.

Throughout the novel, Vivek battles what he feels like inside versus the outside appearances he must keep up for society.

Within the safety net of his cousins’ and childhood friends’ homes, Vivek finds the love, acceptance, and freedom to express himself.

Readers learn the meaning of community as well as what happens when people refuse to recognize and celebrate our differences.

Kavita, Vivek’s mom, is an essential and moving character, and Vivek’s courage is beyond inspiring. The relationships both gripped and broke our hearts.

The Death of Vivek Oji is one of our favorite contemporary books about Nigeria as well as a strong friendship novel .

These days, nonbinary Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is an “always-read” author for us. They will touch the core of your heart and soul.

The Death Of Vivek Oji : Amazon | Goodreads

More Nigerian Novels From Akwaeke Emezi:

Freshwater – Ada is prone to violent fits and develops separate selves. When she leaves Nigeria for college in North Carolina, she becomes powerless against the forces in her mind. Discover even more great books set in North Carolina .
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty – One of our top 2022 books , find a passionate and steamy romance about loving yourself, life, and others after heartbreaking tragedy and insurmountable grief.
Pet – One of our favorite fantasy audiobooks and a National Book Award finalist, Jam and her best friend Redemption have been taught their entire lives that monsters are not real. But, when a creature emerges from one of her mom’s paintings, Jam goes on a mission to find out the truth in a society full of denial. Discover even more of the best LGBT fantasy books to read .

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

In any culture, it’s an age-old (and tired and dated) question meant to make people feel terrible and pressured, “Yinka, where is your huzband ?”

But of course, when you are career-driven, have meddling but sweet aunties, and everyone else around you is getting married, this pressure can be immense.

That’s exactly the situation Yinka – a Nigerian woman living in Britain – finds herself in – and she’s been saving herself for true love.

Now searching for a wedding date and equipped with a spreadsheet, Yinka sets out on a journey to find love.

But does she need love from a partner more than she needs to learn to love herself?

For fictional books about Nigeria, you’ll love this feel-good, rom-com that tackles deeper themes of racism, sexism, and navigating multiple cultures.

Read Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? : Amazon | Goodreads

Best Books Set In Nigeria

My sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite.

How can such a dark Nigerian novel – and terrific fictional serial killer book – also be so witty, polished, and humorous?

One of the most fast-paced and deeply devourable sister books you’ll ever read, My Sister, the Serial Killer is well worth all of the awards and hype.

Korede has been looking out for her sister, Ayoola, her entire life, which translates to knowing how to use bleach and gloves as well as carrying dead bodies down the stairs without getting caught.

Ayoola is a serial killer, not that you’d expect it with her radiant beauty and charm.

And even though all of Ayoola’s boyfriends end up dead – with little proof that they deserved it – it’s hard to see her as anything but a young woman who loves posting on social media and listening to music on her sister’s bed.

When Ayoola starts to fall for Korede’s own love interest, a handsome doctor at the hospital, Korede cannot let this relationship continue. Or the killing…

Not to mention that the man in a coma she whispers her darkest secrets to could potentially wake up one day.

One of our all-time favorite Nigerian novels, explore sisterly love, familial protection (and failure), murder, and violence.

See the effects of trauma and childhood abuse in one thrilling and debut modern noir, begging the question, who is worse: the killer or the enabler?

Read My Sister, the Serial Killer : Amazon | Goodreads

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Set in Enugu, Nigeria, brother and sister – Kambili and Jaja – live sheltered yet wealthy and privileged lives.

Although their home situation looks fortunate from the outside, their father, Eugene, is a cruel religious fanatic who dictates their lives.

Against the backdrop of a military coup, Eugene allows his sister to shelter the children, where they struggle to adapt to a different type of family life and values.

It is here that Kambili falls in love with a celibate priest.

Set amid both domestic and political tension and violence, Purple Hibiscus is a coming-of-age story and one of the best books about Nigeria where the imagery seeps off of the pages.

Read Purple Hibiscus : Amazon | Goodreads

More Nigerian Books From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Ifemelu leaves Nigeria for America where she feels what it is like to be Black for the first time. Expecting to join her, Obinze gets trapped undocumented in London. It’s over a decade later before they reunite in a new Nigeria.
Zikora: A Short Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A short story that you can read in under one hour, DC Nigerian-born Zikora finds herself pregnant and abandoned by the child’s father. When her mother visits for the birth, she learns more about herself and her family. This is a beautiful quick read about Nigerian families.

Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children Of Blood And Bone by Toni Adeyemi book cover

If you are looking for YA fantasy books set in Nigeria, don’t miss Children Of Blood And Bone – the first in the Legacy of Orisha series.

We loved this fast-paced romance and thriller set in Ilorin.

One night, all of the magic in Orïsha disappears as the king orders all of the maji dead.

Zélie Adebola sets out against the monarchy to bring back the magic. Zélie is caught off guard when she begins falling for one of the enemies.

Children Of Blood And Bone will most appeal to readers who enjoy stories about star-crossed lovers paired with heavier and emotional themes of racism, culture, and faith.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the second is this YA series.

Read Children Of Blood And Bone : Amazon | Goodreads

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

One of the best books set in Nigeria for younger readers, witch lovers , and Harry Potter fans, be sure to pick up Akata Witch .

Magic meets feminism and friendship in this fast-paced fantasy world. And like Children Of Blood And Bone , Akata Witch is also a book about racism.

Born in America but Nigerian, Sunny and her overprotective family move back to Nigeria.

Sunny is bullied in school for being an albino and feels like an outcast until she meets three new friends – all bound together by powerful secrets.

Sunny and her friends must stop an evil and magical criminal before it’s too late.

Find another one of Nnedi Okorafor’s books, Remote Control , on our Ghanaian novels reading list .

Read Akata Witch : Amazon | Goodreads

Even More Nigerian Novels :

The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré – One of the most popular books about Nigeria, The Girl With The Louding Voice is a coming-of-age story. Adunni wants to build a better life for herself and receive an education to become a teacher. She escapes an arranged marriage as a third wife but ends up employed and abused in another household.
Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ – Set in Ilesa, Nigeria, Yejide and Akin never believed in having a polygamous marriage. When Yejide cannot conceive, though, a second wife enters the scene.

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Famous & Popular Nigerian Authors

Chinua achebe.

Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 and passed away in March 2013. He was an acclaimed Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He published his first novel, Things Fall Apart in 1958 and helped revive African literature.

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ is an award-winning Nigerian author. She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Stay With Me is her debut novel.

Tomi Adeyemi

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American author. Children Of Blood and Bone was her first YA bestselling fantasy novel and is set to become a movie. She is a Harvard University graduate.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an award-winning and bestselling author who grew up in Nigeria. She is also a TED Talk speaker and MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

Abi Daré is an award-winning Nigerian author who grew up in Lagos. She now resides in the UK with her family. Daré holds an MSc in International Project Management from Glasgow Caledonian University and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London.

Akwaeke Emezi

Akwaeke Emezi is an artist and award-winning writer. Born in Umuahia and raised in Aba, Nigeria, they write nonfiction, fiction, and YA books. Emezi is an advocate for Black Trans rights.

Jane Igharo

Similar to Azere in Ties That Tether , Jane Abieyuwa Igharo was born in Nigeria and moved to Canada. Igharo holds a journalism degree from the University of Toronto. Ties that Tether is her debut novel.

Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning Nigerian-American sci-fi and fantasy author for adults and children. Nnedi has a Ph.D. in literature and two Master’s degrees in journalism and literature.

Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, or Wole Soyinka, is a 1986 Nobel laureate. He grew up in Abeokuta, in Western Nigeria, and is a Nigerian playwright, actor, poet, and essayist. Soyinka wrote in English. Yoruba myths, his life in exile and prison, and politics influenced his writings.

Grab all of your favorite Nigerian books here:

Save Your Favorite Nigerian Books For Later:

Nigerian Novels, Authors, and Nonfiction Books Pinterest pin with text that says, "books from, set in, and about Nigeria with image of Nigerian landscape with mountains and houses and book covers for Yinka Where is your huzband?, My sister the serial killer, Akata Witch, The Girl with the Louding Voice, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, The Death of Vivek Oji, Half of a yellow sun, and things fall apart

What other books about or set In Nigeria have you read? Do you have a favorite Nigerian author?

Who are your favorite Nigerian authors, and what Nigerian novels have you read already? What nonfiction books have taught you more? What is on your TBR list? Let us know in the comments.

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Christine Frascarelli

I absolutely love reading books set in Africa. I have read most of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works, except for that short story. I will have to check that one out soon. A lot of these books I hadn’t previously heard of, so I will have to make an effort to read some of them. I have several of Chinua Achebe’s books on my TBR so hopefully, I will get to at least one of them this year.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story, Zikora, is a fabulous quick read. A few readers mentioned some great Nigerian books that I also need to look into to add. Like you, Chinua Achebe’s books are on my to-read list. I’m hoping to read many more books set in Africa this year. I’d love to travel around the African continent one day, too.

Excellent post! I’ve discovered several new Nigerian authors to add to my to-read list.

I would highly recommend Buchi Emecheta, she’s a very famous Nigerian author and her books are so powerful. I’ve read three of her books so far and my favourite is Second-Class Citizen.

Nnedi Okorafor is an American-Nigerian and wrote a fantastic sci-fi novel set in Lagos, called Lagoon which I also loved and would also just recommend all her work.

Hey Sarah, Thank you so much for the added suggestions. I really appreciate it, especially since there are so many great books set in Nigeria out there. Nnedi Okorafor recently had a new release or two that I was eyeing. I totally forgot about her novels — and that’s a great sci-fi suggestion to fill in that gap on this list.

Thank you SO much for this list! My granddaughter is half Nigerian, so I’m very interested in the country. I’ve already read “The Death of Vivek Oji”. I will read everything on this list.

Thank you so much! I don’t know a lot about Nigeria (and have yet to visit), and I wanted to learn more, too. I’d be curious what your granddaughter’s favorite books about Nigeria are and if she loves a specific Nigerian author or two.

Nigerian Literary Giants: Unveiling the Best Authors that Defined a Nation's Storytelling Heritage

Welcome to our blog post celebrating the rich literary heritage of Nigeria! From thought-provoking novels to powerful works of poetry, Nigerian authors have made their mark on the world stage with their captivating storytelling and profound insights. In this article, we will explore some of the best Nigerian authors and their incredible contributions to literature in Nigeria. So, grab a cup of tea or coffee, settle in, and let's embark on a journey through the vibrant tapestry of Nigerian literature!

Best Nigerian authors and literature in Nigeria

Chimamanda ngozi adichie.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a literary powerhouse whose words have the power to ignite minds and spark conversations. Hailing from Abba, Nigeria, Adichie burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel "Purple Hibiscus," which garnered critical acclaim and established her as a formidable voice in contemporary literature. With each subsequent work, such as "Half of a Yellow Sun" and "Americanah," Adichie continued to captivate readers with her masterful storytelling and richly drawn characters. Her narratives effortlessly weave together personal experiences, cultural nuances, and social commentary, shedding light on issues such as feminism, race, identity, and colonialism. Adichie's writing style is marked by its lyrical beauty and poignant observations. Her prose transports readers into the hearts and minds of her characters, immersing them in their triumphs and struggles. She tackles complex themes with sensitivity and nuance while presenting diverse perspectives that challenge conventional thinking. Beyond her novels, Adichie's powerful TED Talk on feminism titled "We Should All Be Feminists" resonated with millions around the world. It sparked a global movement for gender equality by encouraging both men and women to dismantle patriarchal norms. Adichie's impact extends far beyond her books; she has become an influential figure not only within Nigerian literature but also within discussions surrounding social justice issues worldwide. With accolades that include numerous awards like the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and being named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World - it is clear that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's contributions to Nigerian literature are nothing short of extraordinary.

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka is a literary icon and one of Nigeria's most celebrated authors. Born in 1934, Soyinka has made significant contributions to Nigerian literature and the global literary scene. He is known for his plays, poetry, and essays that explore themes of politics, culture, and identity. Soyinka's work often reflects his experiences growing up in Nigeria during a time of political upheaval. His play "A Dance of the Forests" won him recognition as the first African playwright to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. In addition to his plays, Soyinka has written several acclaimed novels such as "The Man Died: Prison Notes", which chronicles his time spent in prison during Nigeria's civil war. His writing captures the complexity of human nature and explores issues such as corruption, power struggles, and social injustice. Aside from being an accomplished writer, Soyinka is also an activist who has spoken out against totalitarian regimes and fought for freedom of expression. He continues to be a voice for change not only within Nigeria but around the world. Wole Soyinka's impact on Nigerian literature cannot be overstated. Through his thought-provoking works and fearless activism, he has left an indelible mark on both local and international audiences alike.

Buchi Emecheta

Buchi Emecheta was a Nigerian author who explored themes of gender, race, and identity in her works. Born in Lagos in 1944, she faced many challenges as a woman growing up in a patriarchal society. However, Emecheta's determination and resilience shone through in her writing. In her novels such as "The Joys of Motherhood" and "Second-Class Citizen," Emecheta delved into the struggles faced by African women both at home and abroad. She depicted their experiences with vivid detail and empathy, shedding light on the often overlooked aspects of their lives. Emecheta's writing style was captivating yet accessible. Her stories resonated with readers around the world because they dealt with universal themes of love, loss, and personal growth. Through her characters' journeys, she challenged societal norms and encouraged dialogue about important issues. With each book she published, Buchi Emecheta solidified her place among Nigeria's literary greats. Her contributions to Nigerian literature continue to inspire aspiring writers today. By showcasing the complexities of African womanhood through rich storytelling, Emecheta created a lasting legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe is one of the most renowned Nigerian authors and a pioneer of African literature. Born on November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, Nigeria, Achebe's literary works have had a profound impact not only in Nigeria but also around the world. Achebe gained international recognition with his debut novel, "Things Fall Apart," published in 1958. The novel tells the story of Okonkwo, a respected warrior and leader in an Igbo village who struggles to adapt to the changes brought by British colonialism. Through his powerful storytelling and vivid portrayal of African culture, Achebe challenged prevailing stereotypes about Africa and its people. He explored themes such as cultural identity, colonialism, and the clash between tradition and modernity. In addition to "Things Fall Apart," Achebe wrote several other notable novels including "No Longer at Ease" (1960), "Arrow of God" (1964), and "Anthills of the Savannah" (1987). His works continue to be studied in schools worldwide for their literary merit and social commentary. Not only was Chinua Achebe a prolific writer but he was also an influential critic and essayist. His collection of essays titled "The Education of a British-Protected Child" provides valuable insights into postcolonial Nigeria. Achebe's contributions to literature cannot be overstated. He paved the way for future generations of African writers by giving voice to African stories that were often marginalized or misrepresented. His work continues to inspire readers across continents and serves as a testament to the power of storytelling as an agent for change. As we explore Nigerian authors' outstanding contributions to literature like Chinua Acheb', it becomes evident that their narratives enrich our understanding not only about Nigeria but also about humanity as a whole.

Amos Tutuola

Amos Tutuola is undoubtedly one of Nigeria's most notable authors, known for his unique style and captivating storytelling. Born in 1920 in Abeokuta, Tutuola had a humble background but went on to make a significant impact on Nigerian literature. His first novel, "The Palm-Wine Drinkard," published in 1952, brought him international recognition. The book tells the story of a young man who embarks on a quest to find his dead palm-wine tapster in the land of the dead. With its imaginative narrative and vivid descriptions of supernatural creatures and events, it became an instant classic. Tutuola continued to explore folklore and traditional African beliefs in subsequent works such as "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (1954) and "The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town" (1981). His writing style often blends elements of oral tradition with modern storytelling techniques, creating a mesmerizing reading experience. Despite facing criticism from some literary circles who questioned his command over English language conventions, Tutuola's work remains beloved by many readers. His ability to transport readers into mystical worlds filled with spirits and mythical creatures is truly remarkable. Amos Tutuola's contribution to Nigerian literature cannot be overstated. His novels offer insights into traditional African culture while also challenging conventional notions of storytelling. Through his rich imagination and distinctive voice, he has left an indelible mark on both Nigerian literature and global literary traditions alike

Ben Okri is a Nigerian author whose literary works have earned him international acclaim. Born on March 15, 1959, in Minna, Nigeria, Okri's writing explores themes of spirituality, identity, and the power of storytelling. His most famous work, "The Famished Road," won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1991. This novel follows the adventures of Azaro, a spirit child who navigates between the spiritual and physical realms. With vivid imagery and lyrical prose, Okri takes readers on a captivating journey through African folklore and mythology. In addition to his novels, Okri has also written poetry collections such as "An African Elegy" and "Wild." His poetic style combines rich symbolism with evocative language to explore themes of love, nature, and social justice. Okri's writings often challenge conventional narratives by blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy. His unique blend of magical realism draws readers into enchanting worlds that reflect both the beauty and struggles of contemporary society. Through his work as a writer and activist, Ben Okri has become an influential figure in Nigerian literature. He continues to inspire aspiring writers not only in Nigeria but around the world with his imaginative storytelling and thought-provoking insights into the human condition.

Ayi Kwei Armah

Ayi Kwei Armah is a renowned Nigerian author whose works delve into the complexities of post-colonial Africa. Born in 1939 in Takoradi, Ghana, Armah's writing has captured the attention of readers worldwide with its powerful storytelling and thought-provoking themes. Armah's novels often explore the impact of Western imperialism on African societies and highlight issues such as corruption, inequality, and cultural identity. His debut novel, "The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born," published in 1968, vividly depicts the struggles faced by individuals living under oppressive regimes. The book's raw portrayal of moral decay and disillusionment resonates with readers even today. Another notable work by Ayi Kwei Armah is "Two Thousand Seasons." This epic historical novel traces Africa's history from pre-colonial times to modern-day through compelling narratives that celebrate African culture while condemning colonialism. Armah's meticulous research and poetic language make this novel a masterpiece that compels readers to reflect on Africa's past and present. Throughout his career, Ayi Kwei Armah has received numerous accolades for his contributions to African literature. His ability to confront difficult topics head-on while maintaining rich characterization sets him apart as an influential voice in contemporary Nigerian literature. In conclusion (without using those words), Ayi Kwei Armah is a writer who challenges conventional narratives about Africa through his captivating storytelling style. With each book he writes, he adds depth to our understanding of post-colonial experiences in Nigeria and beyond. Whether exploring themes related to politics or cultural identity, Ayi Kwei Armah continues to inspire both local and international audiences alike with his unique perspective on Nigerian literature.

Nigeria is undoubtedly a country rich in literary talent, with a long list of exceptional authors who have made their mark on the world stage. From novelists to poets, these Nigerian writers have captured the hearts and minds of readers both within Nigeria and beyond.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie stands as one of the most prominent voices in contemporary literature, using her words to shed light on issues such as feminism, race, and identity. Wole Soyinka's powerful plays and poetry have earned him international recognition, including being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Buchi Emecheta broke barriers with her frank explorations of gender inequality and female empowerment. Chinua Achebe's seminal work "Things Fall Apart" has become a classic not only in Nigeria but also worldwide for its exploration of colonialism and cultural clash. Amos Tutuola's imaginative storytelling brings traditional Yoruba folklore to life while Ben Okri weaves magical realism into his narratives that delve deep into human experiences. Ayi Kwei Armah's thought-provoking novels challenge social norms and expose corruption within society. Each author mentioned here has contributed immensely to Nigerian literature by giving voice to diverse stories from different perspectives. From historical fiction to post-colonial narratives, Nigerian authors continue to captivate readers with their unique storytelling abilities. Their works provide insight into the complexities of Nigerian culture while touching upon universal themes that resonate with people across borders. As we celebrate these remarkable writers and their contributions to literature, it is important to recognize the immense impact they have had not only on Nigerian literature but also on global literary traditions. They inspire aspiring writers within Nigeria and serve as ambassadors for African literature worldwide. So whether you're looking for an emotional journey through time or seeking thought-provoking social commentary, exploring the works of these talented Nigerian authors will surely leave you enriched with new perspectives about life, love, culture, and the human condition. In the realm of Nigerian literature, these authors stand as truly remarkable forces of creative expression and their works will continue to be celebrated for generations to come.

African Poetry

Non-african poetry, african drama, non-african drama, non-african prose.

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Yoruba Literature

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › African Literary Theory and Criticism

African Literary Theory and Criticism

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on December 15, 2020 • ( 0 )

African literary theory and criticism has emerged out of a discourse of nationalism/continentalism constituted in a political and cultural act of resistance. Ironically the components of African nationalist ideology are often derived from the colonial-imperial discourse against which this nationalism struggles. Thus the language and representational framework within which African literary creation and criticism have evolved, to say nothing of the control of the book market, tends to be determined by the still largely dominant structures of colonial power.

The establishment of Présence Africaine as a literary journal and publishing house in Dakar and Paris under the patronage of Western intellectuals epitomizes the paradoxical relationship of African literature to Western influences. Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya) asserts that

the root cause of the African writer’s predicament [is] historically explainable in terms of the colonial/racist encirclement and brutal suppression of African languages and cultures; that the African writer [is] himself part of the petty bourgeois class which has completely imbibed … western bourgeois education and cultures and the world outlook these carried. ( Writers 57-58)

Since the writing and critical reception of the European- language African texts in the years preceding i960 occurred under the tutelage of European and U.S. “promoters,” indigenous African literary practice since then has vacillated between the rejection of and the fascination with Western structures. Critical apparatus and modes of reading and interpretation of African literatures continue to issue out of the Euro-American bloc. In “Out of Africa: Typologies of Nativism” (1988) Kwame Anthony Appiah (Ghana) postulates that “the language of empire—of center and periphery, identity and difference, the sovereign subject and her colonies— continues to structure the criticism and reception of African literature in Africa as elsewhere.” Two opposing currents impede critical balance: “the emphasis on the démonisation of a dominant Europe producing and perpetuating a cultural margin called the Other”; and resistance, “the multiform varieties of individual and collective agency available to the African subject. .. the achievements and the possibilities of African writing” (175).

Given the multiplicity of linguistic, historical, cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, and national differentiations on the African continent, is it not perhaps more meaningful to speak of African literatures rather than African literature ? Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) once wrote that “you cannot cram African literature into a small, neat definition…. 1 do not see African literature as one unit but as a group of associated units—in fact the sum total of all the national and ethnic literatures of Africa” ( Morning Yet on Creation Day , 1975,56).

Issues of national autonomy, language, ideology, and cultural politics are framed within external and internal hegemonies with considerable implication for African daily existence. There is consensus that the forging of a theory or theories of African literatures has to be generated by African textual practice and texts rather than by external hegemonic interest. In Writers in Politics (1981) Ngugi wa Thiong’o argues pointedly that cultural imperialism under colonialism was “part and parcel of the thorough system of economic exploitation and political oppression of the colonized peoples and [colonial] literature was an integral part of that system of oppression and genocide” (15). A dissident literature of struggle and cultural assertion that predates colonial invasion was consolidated under empire and continues, in the postindependence epoch, to combat neocolonial hegemony exercising itself through an indigenous elite groomed through colonial apprenticeship.

The development of a broadly African (or individual national) literary theory and practice is inseparable from the project of total decolonization. The Cultural Charter for Africa (1976), drawn up by the General Secretariat of the Organization of African Unity, articulates the conviction that “cultural domination led to the depersonalization of part of the African peoples, falsified their history, systematically disparaged and combated African values, and tried to replace progressively and officially, their languages by that of the colonizer.” The Charter notes that

culture constitutes for our people the surest means of overcoming our technological backwardness and the most efficient force of our victorious resistance to imperialist blackmail [, that] African culture is meaningless unless it plays a full part in the political and social liberation struggle, and in the rehabilitation and unification efforts and that there is no limit to the cultural development of a people. (2-4)

The intransigence of apartheid in South Africa bears out this pronouncement; it also contributes to the existence in one country of two literatures that do not speak to each other.

Colonization resulted in the linguistic and political division of Africa into zones based on European languages. For African writers and critics to insist on an identity based on colonial languages is to subscribe to the will to self-fragmentation. In L’idéologie dans la litterature negro-africaine d’expression française (1986) Guy Ossito Midiohouan (Benin) suggests that behind the appellation “Francophone” lies the continued cooperation between African countries and France that is but a not-so-subtle cover for French imperialist ideology. “La Francophonie” is a purely ideological space, an immense mythic territory encompassing all the comers of the world where the French language is used (22). Even later (and probably well-intentioned) critical works such as Jonathan Ngaté’s Francophone African Fiction: Reading a Literary Tradition (1988) and Christopher Miller’s Theories of Africans (1990) pander to the supposed logic of a cultural- linguistic cartography.

In their controversial Toward the Decolonization of African Literature (1980), Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie, Ihechukwu Madubuik e raise the issue of defining the “Africanness” of a literary text, an issue already tackled in a 1962 conference of “African Writers of English Expression” at Makerere University College, Kampala, Uganda, with the theme “What Is African Literature?” Ngugi wa Thiong’o recalls that “the whole area of literature and audience, and hence of language as a determinant of both the national and class audience, did not really figure: the debate was more about the subject matter and the racial origins and geographical habitation of the writer” ( Decolonising 6).

The language debate was first foregrounded by a Nigerian critic, Obiajunwa Wali , who in 1963 published a controversial article, “The Dead End of African Literature?” in which he observed that “African literature as now understood and practised is merely a minor appendage in the main stream of European literature. … The w’hole uncritical acceptance of English and French as the inevitable medium for educated African writing … has no chance of advancing African literature and culture” ( Transition 10 [1963] 14). The elitist association of literature with academic education in European languages led Kwame Anthony Appiah to lament that “modem African writing” usually denotes what is taught in high schools all around the continent:

The role of the colonial [and postcolonial] school in the reproduction of Western cultural hegemony is crucial to .African criticism because of the intimate connection between the idea of criticism and the growth of literary pedagogy…. the role of literature, indeed, the formation of the concept, the institution of “literature,” is indissoluble from pedagogy. (“Out of Africa” 156)

Albert Memmi (Tunisia) argues that even where bilingualism obtains, the mother tongue of the colonized gets “crushed” in the conflict of power with the colonizer:

Colonial bilingualism is neither a purely bilingual situation in which an indigenous tongue coexists with a purist’s language … nor a simple polyglot richness benefiting from an extra but relatively neuter alphabet. … [The colonized writer] incarnates a magnified vision of all the ambiguities and impossibilities of the colonized. ( The Colonizer and the Colonized , 1967,107-8)

Interestingly, the West and its adherents continue largely to ignore traditional oral literatures and written literatures in African languages.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o/Steve Zylius University of California, Irvine

Ngugi wa Thiong’o has been the foremost champion of writing in African languages as an extension of the historical cultural struggle between the national and the foreign. In language that echoes Amilcar Cabral’s theme of “return to the source,” Ngugi has submitted that “only by a return to the roots of our being in the languages and cultures and heroic histories of the Kenyan people can we rise up to the challenge of helping in the creation of a Kenyan patriotic national literature and culture” ( Writers 65). “Orature,” a term coined by Pius Zirimu (Uganda) to denote oral texts, constitutes the primary source of literary creativity in Africa. The privileging of (written) literature over orature is increasingly discredited in view of the continual flux between orality and literacy. In most of Africa orature already provides exemplary texts of resistance and discursive contest. Ngugi and Kwame Appiah concur in characterizing as Afro-European (Europhone) literature that literature written by Africans in European languages. Ngugi insists that “African literature can only be written in African languages . .. the languages of the African peasantry and working class, the major alliance of classes in each of our nationalities and the agency for the coming inevitable revolutionary break with neo-colonialism” ( Decolonising 27). The intertextuality between orature and the printed text is a recurrent theme in literary debate and practice in African letters; witness, for instance, Mahamadou Kane’s Roman africain et tradition (1982) and Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Decolonising the Mind (1986). This intertextuality becomes the nexus of resistance and self-empowerment: the appropriation of a certain specific Western set of tools— language, theories, textual practice—affords African literary practice a means by which to counter the alienating effects of Western assault.

Quite predictably, nativism, the idea that “true African independence requires a literature of one’s own,” that is, a literature or literatures in indigenous African languages, has been contested. The multiplicity7 of African languages, the limitation of the audience, and questions of orthography have been cited as impediments to the generation and continuity of literatures in African languages. Nevertheless, the identification of indigenous African languages with programs of effective decolonization has held sway, given that European languages were (and are) the synecdochical instrumentality for cultural hegemony. Howe\rer, such a projection may sometimes assign a fetishlike character to a common language and a common ethnic or national provenance. In “Ideology or Pedagogy: The Linguistic Indigenization of African Literature,” Al-Amin M. Mazrui posits that the equation of indigenous language(s) with national identity has no validity “without a concomitant struggle for the nation to determine its own politico-economic destiny” ( Race & Class 28 [1986] 66). For Mazrui, the linguistic indigenization of African literature becomes meaningful and attains its greatest importance only in relation to the revolutionary function of literature.

“Négritude” has been a recurrent motif in the criticism of African literature, both internal and external. Paulin Hountondji (Benin), Stanislas Adotevi (Senegal), Félix Eboussi Boulaga (Cameroon), and Marcien Towa (Cameroon) are among those who have undertaken a serious critique of the movement and concepts of Négritude. The dividing line between French-speaking and English-speaking practitioners and critics of Négritude is more apparent than real: South African Ezekiel (Es’kia) Mphahlele in “The African Personality” sees no distinction between “the African personality” and Négritude, because “each concept involves the other. They merely began at different times in different historical circumstances. … Négritude claims the whole of the black world, the African Personality refers only to Africa” ( The African Image , 1962, 67).

Négritude has been recognized broadly as a strategic moment and movement that had to be surpassed before the political kingdom could be reached. At a 1965 writers’ conference, Sembène Ousmane (Senegal) acknowledged the historical strategic necessity of Négritude but disparaged the “African” essentialism inherent in certain definitions of Négritude, seeing no future in it “because négritude neither feeds the hungry7 nor builds roads” (Killam 149). Cheikh Hamidou Kane (Senegal) argued for the utility of Négritude as anti-imperialist discourse: “We had, at some point, to make ourseh’es felt, if we were ever to make ourselses known and refuse cultural or political assimilation, especially at a time when, politically speaking, we had no prospects of an early liberation” (Killam 152). But Négritude has been faulted for often being complicit with the ethnocentric discourse of the West concerning Africa, confirming the West’s stereotyping of Africa. Léopold Séder Senghor’s typical opposition of “the negro” to “the European” constantly commits this blunder: “Classical European reason is analytical and makes use of the object. African reason is intuitive and participates in the object” ( Prose and Poetry , 1965, 34).

Despite its limitations, Négritude construed itself, at least in part, as constructing a bridge betyveen Africa and the black diaspora. In “Négritude,” Senghor slews Négritude as constituting “a weapon of defence and attack and inspiration” that, “instead of diyiding and sterilizing, unified and made fertile” ( Prose 99). In his Cahier d’un retour au pays natal [Notebook of a return to the native land], first published in 1938 and considered by many to be the pan-Negritude text par excellence, the Martinican poet Aimé Césaire projects the poet’s role as that of a spokesperson for the inhabitants of

this impossibly delicate tenuity separating one America from another; and these loins which secrete for Europe the hearty7 liquor of a Gulf Stream, and … Guadeloupe, split in two down its dorsal line and equal in poverty to us, Haiti where négritude rose for the first time and stated it believed in its humanity, and … Florida where the strangulation of a nigger is being completed, and Africa gigantically caterpillaring up to the Hispanic foot of Europe. (47)

In Les Fondements de L’Africanité, ou Négritude et Arabité, Senghor sees “Négritude” and “Arabness” as overlapping in the African context, rejecting the facile separation of the “Arab” from the “African”: “I ha\’e often defined Africanity as the ‘complementary7 symbiosis of the [cultural] values of Arabism and the \7alues of Négritude.’ ” Senghor endeavors to demonstrate that “this symbiosis is achieved through métissage (mixing of races and ethnics) and through the cony’ergences of Arab and Negro-African cultures” (10). Concerning the founding of the Organization of African Unity, for instance, Senghor points to the danger of an African identity conferred by the European imperial imagination. Writes Senghor: “To found a common organisation whose sole motiye force is anti-colonialism is thus to build on shaky ground. The colonial past has characterised us only as Africans. We have much in common with all the other peoples of Asia and America” (9-10).

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, among others, has advocated the study of the global dimensions of the African diaspora, in particular “our essentially colonial situation, our struggle [to achieve] a kind of homecoming.” In Homecoming (1972), Ngugi laments the utter neglect of Caribbean studies in African departments of literature. “We forget, or have been made to forget. .. that the West Indies has been very formative in Africa’s political and literary consciousness: Marcus Garvey, C. L. R. James, George Padmore, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon: these are some of the most familiar names in Africa. Yet we ignore their work” (81). In addition, the ideological-cultural links between the peoples of Africa and Asia find their literary expression in Lotus: Journal of Afro-Asian Literature . The links binding the common political-cultural histories of Africa, Asia, and Latin America find common expression in terms such as “resistance,” “commitment” (or “engagement”), and “solidarity.” Within Africa itself, a literature of solidarity takes sides in the struggle against neocolonialism. As Guy Ossito Midiohouan writes,

The fact remains that on our continent neo-colonialism knows no borders—nor do hunger, poverty, totalitarianism. … Our role, today, should not be to cultivate our difference and legitimize borders but rather, as the writers themselves have done, it must be to assume responsibilities to confront our common reality and our common destiny. (“The Nation-Specific Approach to African Literature,” in Harrow 3-4)

Marxist/socialist theoretical approaches, while broadly popular as anti-imperialist praxis, have been found unfit for articulating an African reality. For Chidi Amuta, the historical determination and theoretical orientation of Marxism renders it “impotent when it comes to the elaboration of societies, cultural manifestations and historical developments that did not form part of the cognitive universe of Marx and Engels” ( The Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism, 1975, 73-74).

If male writers and critics dominate the arena of writing, patriarchal attitudes also often influence the literary representation of women and the reception of women’s writing and criticism (especially feminist). In the preface to Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves’s Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature (1986), Graves states the book’s objective as an attempt “to redress the relative inattention to women in African literary scholarship.” The essays in the text aspire to address “the absence of a feminine perspective or the stunted characterization of women,” issues that are “as demanding of critical attention as is the more complete presentation of feminine presence” (vii). Molara Ogundipe- Leslie (Nigeria) shares these sentiments in “The Female Writer and Her Commitment,” in which she posits the woman writer’s major responsibilities as being “first to tell about being a woman; secondly to describe reality from a woman’s view, a woman’s perspective.” Ogundipe-Leslie attributes some women writers’ and/or critics’ lack of “[commitment] to their womanhood” to the successful intimidation of African women by men over the issue of women’s liberation and feminism and to male ridicule, aggression, and backlash, which assign a stigma to the term “feminist” ( African Literature Today 15 [1987] 5,10-11).

Susan Z. Andrade also notes that “the [literary] history of African women has gone unnamed, its absence unnoticed.” According to Andrade, African feminist criticism must build beyond “its historical links to white feminist and male cultural critics,” with which it intersects (“Rewriting History, Motherhood, and Rebellion: Naming an African Women’s Literary Tradition,” Research in African Literatures 21 [1990] 91). Andrade, like an increasing number of women writers and critics, insists on an intertextual reading of women’s narratives and on the intersection between race and gender, which is often elided in much Western feminist writing on Africa.

African Novels and Novelists

Postcolonial (Cultural) Studies

African American and Post-colonial Studies

Black Feminisms

Postcolonialism

Bibiliography Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Out of Africa: Typologies of Nativism,” Yale Journal of Criticism 2 (1988); Frantz Fanon, Les Damnés de la terre (1961, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. Constance Farrington, 1976); Kimani Gecau, “Do Ethnic Languages Divide a Nation?” African Perspectives 2 (1978); Kenneth Harrow, Jonathan Ngaté, and Clarissa Zimra, eds., Crisscrossing Boundaries in African Literatures (1991); G. D. Killam, ed., African Writers on African Writing (1973); Locha Mateso, La Littérature africaine et sa critique (1986); Emmanuel Ngara, Art and Ideology in the African Novel: A Study of the Influence of Marxism on African Writing (1985), “The Role of the African Writer in National Liberation and Social Reconstruction,” Criticism and Ideology (ed. K. Petersen, 1988); Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986), Writers in Politics (1981); Wole Soyinka, Myth, Literature, and the African World (1976). Chinua Achebe, “African Literature as Celebration,” African Commentary: A Journal of People of African Descent 1 (1989); Ayi Kwei Armah, “Masks and Marx: The Marxist Ethos vis-à-vis African Revolutionary Theory and Praxis,” Présence Africaine 131 (1984); Albert Gérard, African Language Literatures: An Introduction to the Literary History of Sub-Saharan Africa (1981); Georg M. Gugelberger, Marxism and African Literature (1985); Russel G. Hamilton, “Lusophone Literature in Africa: Lusofonia, Africa, and Matters of Language and Letters,” Callaloo 14 (1991)/ Voices from an Empire: A History of Afro-Portuguese Literature (1975); Janheinz Jahn, Bibliography of Creative African Writing (1971); Adeola James, ed., In Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk (1990); Eldred D. Jones, ed., African Literature Today 15 (1987, special issue on women); Penina Muhando Mlama, “Creating in the Mother-Tongue: The Challenges to the African Writer Today,” Research in African Literatures 21 (1990); V. Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge (1988); Emmanuel Ngara and Andrew Morrison, ed., Literature, Language, and the Nation (1989); Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture, and Politics (1972); Lewis Nkosi, Tasks and Masks: Themes and Styles in African Literature (1982); Emmanuel Obiechina, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel (1975); Isidore Okpewho, “Comparatism and Separatism in African Literature,” World Literature Today 55 (1981); Sembfene Ousmane, Man Is Culture / L’Homme est culture (Sixth Annual Hans Wolff Memorial Lecture, 1979); Wole Soyinka, “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy, and Other Mythologies,” Black Literature and Literary Theory (ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1984), “The Writer in a Modern African State,” The Writer in Modem Africa (ed. Per Wastberg, 1968); Peter Sultzer, Schwarze Intelligens: Ein literarisch-politischer Streifzug durch Snd-Afrika (1955). Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

African Literature

This study guide collection celebrates novels, memoirs, plays, and short story collections from some of the most distinguished african authors, including chimamanda ngozi adichie (nigeria) and bessie head (south africa/botswana). explore common themes within these titles, including race and identity, religion, storytelling and oral tradition, colonization, apartheid, and the conflict between tradition and modernity., by wole soyinka.

A Dance of the Forests

Wole Soyinka

Written and first performed in 1960 as part of the national celebrations of nigeria’s independence from britain, a dance of the forests features a unique combination of classically european dramatic elements and traditional yoruba masquerade traditions which make the play resistant to both staging and traditional western criticism. since 1960, few attempts have been made to perform the play, due to its complexity and ambiguity. a dance of the forests presents an allegorical criticism of... read a dance of the forests summary, by nnedi okorafor.

Akata Witch

Nnedi Okorafor

... read akata witch summary, by cheikh hamidou kane.

Ambiguous Adventure

Cheikh Hamidou Kane

Ambiguous adventure is a 1961 novel by author cheikh hamidou kane. the plot of this novel mirrors much of kane’s life, including his birth in senegal and studies in paris. the version used for this guide is the 2012 edition from melville house publishing.ambiguous adventure discusses the duality of man within the context of colonial and postcolonial societies. the novel splits the colonized and the colonizer into two distinct and opposing cultures: the former (the... read ambiguous adventure summary, by chimamanda ngozi adichie, chimamanda ngozi adichie, ifemelu, a nigerian woman who has lived in the us for thirteen years, goes to a hair braiding salon in trenton, new jersey to have her hair braided in preparation for her return to nigeria. the narrative flashes back and forth between her afternoon in the braiding salon, her childhood and adolescence in nigeria, and her adult years in america. ifemelu grows up in lagos, nigeria with a religious mother and a patient, occasionally unemployed father... read americanah summary, ... read apollo summary, by chinua achebe.

Arrow of God

Chinua Achebe

Chinua achebe’s 1964 novel arrow of god portrays an ibo leader as he confronts the british administrators and missionaries in his town. the text, achebe’s third novel, is part of a series of books called the african trilogy. arrow of god won the first ever jock campbell/new statesman prize for african literature.the novel focuses on ezeulu, who is the high priest of ulu. ulu is the most important deity in the town of umuaro, and... read arrow of god summary.

Beware Soul Brother

... Read Beware Soul Brother Summary

By tola rotimi abraham.

Black Sunday

Tola Rotimi Abraham

... read black sunday summary.

Civil Peace

“Civil Peace” is a 1971 short story by Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s most prominent authors and often considered the father of the modern African novel. The story explores the period that followed the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War (1967-1970). The Igbo people of southeast Nigeria wanted freedom from the Hausa people and proclaimed independence forming the Republic of Biafra. Achebe investigates the period through the lens of his character Jonathan... Read Civil Peace Summary

By antjie krog.

Country of My Skull

Antjie Krog

Country of my skull: guilt, sorrow, and the limits of forgiveness in the new south africa (1998) is a work of narrative nonfiction by antjie krog originally published in south africa. this guide refers to the american edition of the text (1999) that includes an epilogue, glossary, cast of characters, and introduction not included in the south african edition, as well as the addition of the subtitle. krog, an afrikaner poet-turned-journalist who covered the truth... read country of my skull summary, by alan paton.

Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1948 work of historical fiction by Alan Paton. Set in South Africa, it follows a Christian reverend named Stephen Kumalo, who lives in a Zulu village called Ndotsheni. Geographically isolated from his brother John, his sister Gertrude, and his son Absalom, Stephen becomes worried when he stops hearing from them. He travels to Johannesburg to check up on them. Cry, the Beloved Country is known for illuminating a historically... Read Cry, the Beloved Country Summary

By abraham verghese.

Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

Cutting for stone by abraham verghese was published in 2009. verghese, an indian american doctor born in ethiopia, interrupted his medical career to attend the university of iowa’s writing workshop and wrote two memoirs before publishing this novel. the book is notable for its incorporation of medical knowledge and its intimate portrayal of the lives of medical doctors. the novel spans several decades, weaving a deeply personal story with the complex 20th-century history of ethiopia... read cutting for stone summary, by julie dash.

Daughters of the Dust

... Read Daughters of the Dust Summary

Dead Men’s Path

Recipient of the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 for his literary career, Nigerian writer and critic Chinua Achebe is known as the “Father of Modern African Literature.” His short story “Dead Men’s Path” raises issues central to many works of postcolonial writing such as modernity versus tradition, urban versus rural life, and Christianity versus Indigenous religion, as well as the overall effects of European colonization on life in his native Nigeria. Originally published in... Read Dead Men’s Path Summary

Death and the King's Horseman

Premiering in 1975, Death and the King’s Horseman is a play written by Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. The play is set in Oyo, Nigeria, during World War II and tells the story of Elesin Oba, the titular king’s horseman who must die by ritual suicide after the Yoruba king dies. The colonial government stops Elesin’s suicide, but the text also suggests that Elesin, a robust man full of life, might not have fulfilled his duty even... Read Death and the King's Horseman Summary

By ngũgĩ wa thiong'o.

Dreams in a Time of War

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Dreams in a time of war was originally published in 2010. this study guide uses the 2011 anchor books edition, a division of random house, inc. a multilayered and faceted coming-of-age memoir of family, community, and kenyan society, dreams in a time of war details the childhood and early adolescent years of acclaimed writer ngũgĩ wa thiong’o. set in mid-twentieth century colonial kenya, the book offers an intimate portrait of ngũgĩ’s life as it unfolds... read dreams in a time of war summary, by flora nwapa, flora nwapa, ... read efuru summary, by teju cole.

Every Day Is for the Thief

Nigerian author Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief is a work of autofiction originally published in Nigeria in 2007 and published in the US in 2014. The novel unfolds in picaresque style from the first-person perspective, as a narrator who closely resembles the author returns to Nigeria after 15 years in the US to reckon with Nigerian national identity and his own legacy. Surprised to find that he feels less comfortable in his... Read Every Day Is for the Thief Summary

Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Adichie’s second book, Half of a Yellow Sun, is set during the Nigerian Civil War that tragically occurred in her home country during the 1960s. The story masterfully revolves around an intricate web of shifting viewpoints, each of which centers around one of the novel’s five main characters: Ugwu, Odenigbo, Olanna, Kainene, and Richard. All of these characters find themselves affiliated with the Biafran rebels of the war, and this affiliation eventually has consequences... Read Half of a Yellow Sun Summary

By peace adzo medie.

His Only Wife

Peace Adzo Medie

... read his only wife summary, by ferdinand oyono, ferdinand oyono, houseboy (1956) is a riveting narrative by ferdinand oyono. though shorter in length than most novels, houseboy addresses the weighty topic of colonization and its effects on the native population of cameroon. more specifically, oyono’s story delves into the life of toundi ondoua, a young rural african man whose life is changed when he decides to shrug off his african village and enter the world of white europeans in the city of dangan. what transpires... read houseboy summary, by nadine gordimer.

Jump and Other Stories

Nadine Gordimer

Published in 1991, jump and other stories is a collection of 16 short stories by nadine gordimer. each story provides insight into how apartheid affected the people of south africa. featuring tales of tragedy, war, revolution, and love, the collection uses a diverse cast of characters to address systemic racism and offer hope for an inclusive future. nadine gordimer was a south african writer and political activist who was awarded the nobel prize in literature... read jump and other stories summary, by bessie head, bessie head, in maru (1971), author bessie head confronts deeply held prejudice toward the masarwa people of botswana. considered sub-human by most citizens of botswana, the masarwa people pursue an untenable and desperate existence within botswana society. living off the land, the masarwa wander from place to place in the bush, scavenging food and water in a subsistence lifestyle. the name “masarwa” itself is an insult, being roughly equivalent to the term “nigger” in english (6).margaret’s masarwa... read maru summary, by athol fugard.

Master Harold and the Boys

Athol Fugard

“master harold”…and the boys, a one-act play by south african playwright athol fugard, premiered on broadway at the lyceum theater in 1982. the play, which is set in 1950, draws on fugard’s own experience growing up during south africa’s apartheid era. it explores a complex relationship between 17-year-old hally, a white boy, and sam and willie, two black men who are servants in hally’s family’s tea room. the play was initially banned in south africa... read master harold and the boys summary, by naguib mahfouz.

Midaq Alley

Naguib Mahfouz

Midaq alley (1947) is a historical realist novel by egyptian writer naguib mahfouz, the 1988 nobel prize laureate in literature. in this work, mahfouz addresses the changes taking place in egyptian society of the 1940s. the book tells the story of a group of neighbors living in midaq alley, a bustling market street, in the poor quarter of cairo’s historic city center. the story is set at the end of world war ii, during britain’s... read midaq alley summary, by tsitsi dangarembga.

Nervous Conditions

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Nervous conditions (1988) is a semi-autobiographical literary fiction novel written by tsitsi dangarembga, an international author, playwright, filmmaker, and director. the novel is the first in a three-part trilogy and is followed by the book of not (2006) and this mournable body (2017). tambudzai, a young girl living with her family on a homestead in rhodesia, narrates the novel and serves as the primary protagonist. four other female protagonists—a deuteragonist, nyasha, and three supporting protagonists... read nervous conditions summary, by desmond tutu.

No Future Without Forgiveness

Desmond Tutu

Originally published in 1999, no future without forgiveness is the memoir of desmond mpilo tutu. tutu won the nobel prize for peace in 1984 for his efforts to end apartheid in south africa. he served as archbishop of the anglican church in cape town and later chaired the truth and reconciliation commission (trc), which president mandela established to help address the atrocities of apartheid.although tutu’s memoir focuses on his work with the trc between 1995... read no future without forgiveness summary.

No Longer at Ease

No Longer At Ease (1960) is a novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. The story takes place in the years prior to Nigeria’s independence from the British Empire and focuses on Obi Okonkwo. Obi is a young Nigerian man who returns home after studying English in Britain and finds a job in the civil service. He finds himself situated within the conflict between African and Western culture, raising questions about his identity and worldview. No... Read No Longer at Ease Summary

By michael williams.

Now is the Time for Running

Michael Williams

... read now is the time for running summary, by doris lessing.

No Witchcraft for Sale

Doris Lessing

... read no witchcraft for sale summary.

Palace Walk

Palace Walk is a 1956 novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz. The story takes place in Cairo during World War I and in its immediate aftermath, touching on the political climate of the time as Egypt transitioned from British occupation to nationalism. The novel presents this change through the day-to-day life of the Muslim al-Jawad family. This guide refers to the 1994 Black Swan edition of the novel, which was translated by William Maynard Hutchins... Read Palace Walk Summary

By abdulrazak gurnah, abdulrazak gurnah, ... read paradise summary, by akwaeke emezi, akwaeke emezi, akwaeke emezi’s pet, published in 2019, is a speculative fiction/fantasy novel intended for young adult readers. named one of time magazine’s 100 best fantasy books of all time, pet was also a finalist for the 2019 national book award for young people’s literature. the novel received the stonewall book award, which recognizes achievement in lgbtqia+ literature. emezi, a non-binary nigerian igbo and tamil writer who uses they/them pronouns, is also the author of two novels... read pet summary.

Petals of Blood

Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is a historical fiction novel that was first published in 1977. Ngũgĩ is a Kenyan author who has written novels, plays, short stories, and essays that typically center on Kenyan and African politics and the effects of colonialism and neocolonialism on the region. Petals of Blood explores the lives of Kenyans after the Mau Mau Rebellion and subsequent independence in the small village of Ilmorog, as well as its development... Read Petals of Blood Summary

By léopold sédar senghor.

Prayer to the Masks

Léopold Sédar Senghor

“prayer to the masks” is a poem by influential senegalese poet and politician léopold sédar senghor, published in 1945 in his collection chants d’ombre (songs of shadow). senghor often used his work to illuminate african history and contemplate the consequences of colonialism. educated in paris, senghor was a founding member of the artistic and political movement négritude, which emphasized pride in african and black identity and history, which he practiced through his poetry. with “prayer... read prayer to the masks summary.

Purple Hibiscus

Winner of the Hearst-Wright Legacy Award in 2004 and the Commonwealth Writers Prize of 2005, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2003 novel Purple Hibiscus is set amidst the political turmoil of postcolonial Nigeria (the 1960s) prior to Nigeria's civil war. The novel is divided into four sections. Each section represents a specific moment in time and addresses a certain aspect of spirituality. Most of the story is told in flashback from the point-of-view of 15-year-old Kambili Achike... Read Purple Hibiscus Summary

By chibundu onuzo, chibundu onuzo, ... read sankofa summary, by buchi emecheta.

Second Class Citizen

Buchi Emecheta

... read second class citizen summary.

Six Feet of the Country

Nadine Gordimer’s “Six Feet of the Country” is one of the seven short stories in her collection of the same name (1956). Gordimer, who was born and lived in South Africa, often explored the country’s racial issues in the context of apartheid. She received numerous literary awards, including the 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature. This short story concerns the death of a native of Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe). When the young man’s family wants to give... Read Six Feet of the Country Summary

By mariama ba.

So Long a Letter

So Long A Letter follows the story of two women from Senegal, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou. They are childhood friends whose paths diverge in adulthood when Aissatou immigrates to America, leaving Ramatoulaye behind in Senegal. The novel is told in the epistolary style—that is, it is structured as a very long letter, written by Ramatoulaye to her friend, recounting the latest events in her life and reminiscing about their shared childhood and adolescence.The novel opens as... Read So Long a Letter Summary

By djibril tamsir niane (d.t. niane), transl. g. d. pickett.

Sundiata (Sunjata)

Djibril Tamsir Niane (D.T. Niane), Transl. G. D. Pickett

Sundiata (also known as sunjata) is an epic poem of the west african mandinka (or malinke) people. there is no single definitive source or version of this story, which originated in oral traditions of the 13th century and was passed down by griots, mandinka poet-historians and regal advisors. sundiata is a quasi-mythological biography of king sundiata keita, who founded the mali empire, which lasted from 1235 to 1400. the poem is also a central cultural... read sundiata (sunjata) summary.

The Death of Vivek Oji

... Read The Death of Vivek Oji Summary

By ben okri.

The Famished Road

Written in a style that evokes the oral tradition of storytelling, The Famished Road, by Nigerian writer Ben Okri, follows the peripatetic adventures of Azaro, a young boy who is finding his way amid the poverty and political passions of a newly independent nation. Winner of the prestigious Booker Prize in 1991, the novel presents an allegorical tale of both the pitfalls and the promise latent in the post-colonial moment. Nigeria was one of the... Read The Famished Road Summary

By namina forna.

The Gilded Ones

Namina Forna

... read the gilded ones summary, by abi daré.

The Girl with the Louding Voice

... Read The Girl with the Louding Voice Summary

The Headstrong Historian

... Read The Headstrong Historian Summary

The Lion and the Jewel

“The Lion and the Jewel” is a three-act play written by Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka. The play fuses modern and traditional elements of storytelling, including Yoruban song and dance, to convey a message both comical and serious. The play’s characters are often touted as over-the-top in their behavior, lending a comical aspect to the dialogue and the characters’ individual actions. The message conveyed despite the comedic effects, however, focuses on the role of modern and... Read The Lion and the Jewel Summary

By ahdaf soueif.

The Map of Love

Ahdaf Soueif

The map of love is a 1999 work of literary fiction by the egyptian novelist ahdaf soueif. critically acclaimed, the novel was a finalist for the 1999 booker prize. this guide refers to the 1999 anchor books edition.the map of love is driven by a series of fabulous coincidences. in 1997, isabel, a young american woman, contacts amal, a middle-aged egyptian who is mourning the dissolution of her marriage and the alienation of her faraway... read the map of love summary.

The Moment Before the Gun Went Off

... Read The Moment Before the Gun Went Off Summary

By beverley naidoo.

The Other Side of Truth

Beverley Naidoo

The other side of truth is a young adult novel by south african writer beverley naidoo that was published in 2000. the work is set in both nigeria and in london, and it takes place after the 1995 nigerian execution of ken saro-wiwa, a writer and activist who spoke out against nigeria’s military government’s corruption. sade is the novel’s protagonist. the story is written in the third person, and it follows the journey of sade... read the other side of truth summary, by damon galgut.

The Promise

Damon Galgut

... read the promise summary, by andrea davis pinkney.

The Red Pencil

Andrea Davis Pinkney

... read the red pencil summary.

The River Between

The River Between is Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s second novel and was published in 1965 after his debut title, Weep Not, Child. While The River Between is widely interpreted as an anticolonial work, its denouncement of colonial institutions is subtler than that of Ngugi’s later, more critical works on colonialism. His later novels were originally written in the Gikuyu language rather than in English; discourse surrounding the modern-day role of African literature is ongoing... Read The River Between Summary

By tahar ben jelloun.

The Sand Child

Tahar Ben Jelloun

... read the sand child summary, by charles mungoshi.

The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

Charles Mungoshi

The setting sun and the rolling world is a short story collection published in 1987 by zimbabwean author charles mungoshi. across 17 stories, mungoshi explores profound cultural divides in his native country between tradition and modernization, rural and urban life, and colonialism and african nationalism. although the characters are different in each piece, taken together the stories comprise a coming-of-age narrative, as the protagonist of each tale is generally a little older and more experienced... read the setting sun and the rolling world summary.

The Thief and the Dogs

The Thief and the Dogs is a 1961 surrealist, existentialist novel by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz. Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature and The Thief and the Dogs is considered one of his most celebrated works. The novel has been adapted for Egyptian television, and is the first novel written in Arabic to use the stream-of-consciousness style. Published nearly ten years after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the novel is also considered an... Read The Thief and the Dogs Summary

The Thing Around Your Neck

The award-winning and critically acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie published her short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, in 2009. The stories focus on the experiences of Nigerians, the culture-clash problems of Nigerian-Americans, and on the universal human issues of relationships and interaction. Adichie’s highly specific realist writing is tinged with a dark pathos and a sense of a potentially unsolvable disturbance laid over the world she describes.The first story, “Cell One,” tells... Read The Thing Around Your Neck Summary

The Train From Rhodesia

“The Train from Rhodesia” is a short story by Nadine Gordimer, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. The story originally appeared in The Soft Voice of the Serpent, her first collection of stories, published in 1953 and used as the basis for this study guide.The story takes place in a train station in an unnamed African village. The station is surrounded by beggars and by vendors selling carved wooden animals. A stationmaster... Read The Train From Rhodesia Summary

The Ultimate Safari

Nadine Gordimer’s “The Ultimate Safari” is a short story about a family’s journey from their demolished home in war-torn Mozambique to a refugee camp in South Africa. The story is set in 1988 amid the backdrop of a civil war, which neighboring South Africa supported by the funding of rebel forces. Gordimer, a white South African, was deeply critical of her nation’s involvement, and she tells the story of a young, unnamed refugee girl as... Read The Ultimate Safari Summary

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, is Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe’s first novel. Simultaneously portraying the traditions and beliefs of Nigerian Ibo culture and engaging with the narrative of European colonialism in Africa, Things Fall Apart uses one man’s story to speak for many.Achebe’s plot centers on Okonkwo, a passionate man focused on reaching the apex of masculine virtue in his home village, Umuofia. As a child, Okonkwo notices his father’s “feminine” and dishonorable behaviors:... Read Things Fall Apart Summary

By wangari maathai, wangari maathai, unbowed, written by wangari maathai, is a memoir of the kenyan politician and environmental activist who founded the green belt movement. in 2004, maathai became the first african woman and environmentalist to win the nobel peace prize. first published in 2006, the memoir describes maathai’s path to activism, which was fueled by a familiarity with and fondness for the kenyan landscape of her childhood, as well as an early awareness of social injustice. maathai was born... read unbowed summary, by j. m. coetzee.

Waiting for the Barbarians

J. M. Coetzee

Waiting for the barbarians is a 1980 novel written by john maxwell coetzee, a south african and australian novelist who was winner of the 2003 nobel prize for literature. penguin chose the book for its great books of the 20th century series, and the novel won the james tait black memorial prize and geoffrey faber memorial prize for fiction. waiting for the barbarians was influenced by the 1904 poem of the same name written by... read waiting for the barbarians summary.

When Rain Clouds Gather

In the opening pages of Bessie Head’s novel When Rain Clouds Gather, Makhaya Maseko, an educated young man, is preparing to cross the border that separates South Africa from Botswana. Makhaya is disillusioned with South African society, which is premised on discrimination against black men such as him. He sets out at night, successfully evades border patrols, and arrives in Botswana. There, he registers with the authorities and meets a welcoming companion, an old man... Read When Rain Clouds Gather Summary

By nawal el saadawi.

Woman at Point Zero

Nawal El Saadawi

Woman at point zero, also titled firdaus, is a 1975 novella by nawal el saadawi based on the true account of a woman named firdaus who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1974. saadawi was a prolific egyptian feminist and physician, and she worked with egyptian women who experienced various mental conditions that saadawi saw largely as resulting from living in a patriarchal society. she had the privilege of meeting firdaus on... read woman at point zero summary.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

... Read You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty Summary

IMAGES

Introduction to Nigerian Literature by Bruce Alvin King
African Histories and Modernities: Narrating the New African Diaspora
Nigerian Literature, 978-613-1-31136-9, 6131311366 ,9786131311369
The 10 Best Nigerian Novels Of The Last Decade (2010s)
(PDF) Mapping Nigerian Literature
(PDF) EXPLORING AND BIBLIOGRAPHING THE NIGERIAN ONITSHA MARKET

VIDEO

Author Lifestyle and Book Talk Show with young Nigerian creatives
Beyond Borders & Bloodlines: How "A Tribe Called Judah" Unites Nigerian
She was rejected because she was from a poor home and she kept the secret from them
Nigerian economy: Generosity of strangers stuns struggling mother
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Checking Out"
summary

COMMENTS

Nigerian literature
Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members ...
The four generations: Nigerian literature, the Booker ...
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March 29, 2024. March 29, 2024. WHATSAPP: Click HERE to join the new Literature PADI WhatsApp group to receive latest updates on your phone and for further literary discussions! Literature PADI is a leading online Nigerian-based literary platform dedicated to providing insightful literary analysis and commentary.
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A brief History Of Nigerian Literature in English: The preamble

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“‘Our Literature Has Died Again’: Nigerian Writing in the Era of the Nomadists”

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