Nigerian authors bringing new narratives to the women’s literary prize

The 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be awarded this summer on June 5th 2019, and three writers of Nigerian descent are already on the long list of authors.

Three writers of Nigerian descent are names on the longlist of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Oyinkan Braithwaite, Akwaeke Emezi and Diana Evans were announced on March 4 as part of the sixteen authors long-listed for the prestigious prize.

In Ordinary People Evansuses celebrity events from Michael Jackson’s overdose, to a Jill Scott concert to wallow in the malaise of suburban middle class life of London couples in London, an ordinariness often overlooked. The novel was named as one The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2018.

Freshwater, is Emezi’s debut novel of the multiple voices of a Igbo god living within a young woman. Emezi has also used Igbo cosmology to locate their experience of a trans African. Their inclusion in the list means it is the first time a non-binary trans author has been included in the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Also a debut, My Sister, The Serial Killer is the dark and funny relationship between a murderous yet glamorous Lagosian fashion designer and her responsible older sister, always ready with bleach and rubber gloves. Braithwaite didn’t want to write the great Nigerian novel, rejecting the idea that there is a single Nigerian story, instead she wanted to have fun with her own imagination.

The three books in particular, represent a diversity of experiences and show that the literary industry is finally open to more nuance from women authors of colour.

Source: An article of Quartz Africa