The Joys of Motherhood
One of the most renowned novels by Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood (1979) is set during the first half of the twentieth century in Nigeria and tells the life story of Nnu Ego.
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On Earth we’re briefly gorgeous
“On Earth we’re briefly gorgeous” is a dramatic coming-of-age story interlaced with family trauma, and a letter to the mother of the now-adult narrator. This highly poetic book conveys a nuanced and exceedingly ambivalent understanding of violence.
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The Purpose of Power: How we come together when we fall apart
Alicia Garza is co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter and of the Black Lives Matter Global Network. In her book, The Purpose of Power, she critically reviews the movement’s genesis. Garza’s main message to her readers is that a hashtag doesn’t usually start a movement. Behind movements stand people, and sometimes years or decades of dedication to a political cause, as she describes in detail in nearly 400 pages. But a hashtag can give it greater, even global, visibility.
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Minaret
Minaret tells the story of a Sudanese family’s fate: of loss, of migration, of drastic social decline, and of the support that religion can provide.
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December Kids
Kaouther Adimi’s novel The December Kids (original Les petits de Décembre) tells a story of revolutionary children who stand up for their dreams and rights, even when adults are trembling with fear. The novel gives a stage to rousing self-organisation and great courage.
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The Death of Vivek Oji
As one has come to expect of Emezi’s work, The Death of Vivek Oji successfully shakes up conservative constructions of gender. The writer illustrates the loneliness that can come with not conforming to social norms regarding gender and sexuality; the profound pain of not being able to be the person you are.
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World of Wonders
In her recently published essay volume World of Wonders, Aimee Nezhukumatathil frames moments in her life that have shaped her, with anecdotes about animals and plants. In this way, she conveys how wondrous and impressive flora and fauna can be, and how much they have to teach.
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Migrazioni/Migrations
Migrazioni/Migrations is a poetry and photography book created by Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka – the first African author to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. This anthology focuses on the reality of migration by exploring the routes that connect Italy and Africa, Nigeria specifically.
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The first woman
The first woman opens up enriching perspectives on being a woman and friendships between women. For me it was a real reading pleasure: The book is definitely one of my Top 10 of the year 2020!
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Lagoon
Aliens have landed off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria. Immediately, they change pollution levels, marine life, the quality of the ocean water – and that’s just before they get to land. Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Lagoon is both a fun, high-action romp through the old sci-fi tropes of alien arrival, and in many ways a carefully considered decolonisation of the genre and its Eurocentric epistemological underpinnings.
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