Arts/Literary
Top Five Nigerian Novelists You Should Read
With the contemporary Nigerian literary landscape being so vibrant and productive, selecting only a handful of authors to profile is a challenge. Many of these writers are as yet unknown outside Nigeria, but some of those authors whom we predict will make waves on the international literary stage in the next 12 months include Ayobami Adebayo, Diekoye Oyeyinka, Odafe Atogun, Jumoke Verissimo and Olumide Popoola.
The following five writers, all based in Nigeria, feature in a BBC Radio 4 documentary: Writing a New Nigeria, and are some of the hottest talents on the continent right now.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is a writer and journalist. The titular story from his short story collection The Whispering Trees (Parresia Publishers 2012), was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013. He is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow (2013), a Civitella Ranieri Fellow (2015) and was listed by Hay Festival Africa39 as one of the most promising Sub-Saharan African writers under the age of 40. His debut novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms, was published in Nigeria in November 2015 (Parresia Publishers) and published in the UK in June 2016 by Cassava Republic Press.
What others say: ‘Elegantly, and with compassion for the powerless, Ibrahim gives us unique insight into contemporary Nigerian society.’ Zoe Wicomb, author and Chair of Judges, 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing, said
In one line (from Season of Crimson Blossoms): ‘When Reza slipped his hand under her wrapper, he discovered, much to his surprise, that the clump of ancient hair he had encountered the first time was gone’.
A. Igoni Barrett
A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979, and lives in Lagos. He was the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Centre fellowship, a Norman Mailer Centre fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center residency. His short story collection, Love is Power or Something Like That, was published in 2013, and in 2014, he was named on the Hay Festival Africa39 list of Sub-Saharan African writers under the age of 40. His first novel, Blackass, was published in 2015 in Nigeria (Farafina Books) and the UK (Chatto and Windus).
Why read him: For his satirical take on life in Lagos, and his analysis of identity and race.
What others say: ‘The most exciting writer producing right now. He has an incredible range, a unique voice and has the power to move’. Binyavanga Wainaina, author, journalist and founding editor of one of Africa’s leading literary networks, Kwani.
In one line (from Blackass): ‘The bribe-sharing, the queue-jumping, the fact non-checking, and the customer-handling were as efficient as any system whose design was alimentary: in through the mouth and straight out of the anus’.
Lola Shoneyin
Lola Shoneyin’s works include three books of poems and two children’s books: Mayowa and the Masquerades (2010) and Iyaji, the Housegirl (2016). Her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Cassava Republic Press, 2010; Serpent’s Tail, 2011) was long-listed for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and won the PEN Oakland 2011 Josephine Miles Literary Award. After teaching in Nigeria and the UK for many years, Shoneyin now lives in Lagos. She is the director of the Ake Arts and Book Festival, and in 2014, she was named on the Hay Festival Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature.
Why read her For her humorous look at life in a polygamous family.
What others say: ‘Shoneyin’s prose is by turns violent, evocative, witty, humane and gripping.’ Danuta Kean, journalist and publishing industry commentator.
In one line (from The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives): ‘They say the elder who soils the floor with shit immediately forgets; but the stench remains in the memory of the person who has to scrape it up’.
Elnathan John
Elnathan John is one of Nigeria’s most well-known writers and satirists. He has twice been shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing. He is a 2015 Civitella Ranieri Fellow and lives in Abuja, Nigeria. His debut novel, Born on a Tuesday, was published by Cassava Republic Press in Nigeria in November 2015 and would released in the UK (Cassava Republic) and the US (Grove Atlantic) in Spring 2016.
Why read him? For his disarmingly sensitive portrayal of life behind the headlines of religious and political extremism, told through the eyes of a young boy.
What others say: ‘A writer of prodigious talent.’ Petina Gappah, author of ’ An Elegy for Easterly’ and winner of the Guardian First Book Award.
In one line (from Born on a Tuesday): ‘I did not say when Sheikh Jamal asked how my mother was, that when I held her hand and told her I was leaving she didn’t even look at me; that she preferred to look up at the sky or to the ground than give me her blessings or advise me to be good in Sokoto.’
Adoabi Tricia Nwaubani
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a novelist, journalist, essayist and humourist. Her debut novel: I Do Not Come to You by Chance (Cassava Republic Press, 2009; Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2010), won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa), a 2010 Betty Trask First Book award, and was named by the Washington Post as one of the Best Books of the Year. Her essays have been featured in the New York Times, CNN, The Guardian and The New Yorker. She writes a regular column for the BBC Letter from Africa section.
Why read her: To be entertained by the ingenuity and creativity of the character ’Cash Daddy’ and his 419 fraudsters, from the novel I Do Not Come to You by Chance.
What others say: ‘Nwaubani’s subversive skill lies in telling us a familiar story from an unfamiliar angle’, Chris Cleave.
In one line (from I Do Not Come to You by Chance): ‘At last, the Book of Remembrance had been opened and Fortune had called out my name’.
-Source: Emma Shereliff.
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
