NIGERIAN LITERATURE

The release into the market of a novel, The Abyssinian Boy, by Onyeka Nwelue has been announced. Read about the author below:

Born in 1988 in Nigeria, Onyeka Nwelue travelled extensively to Asia, particularly to India after graduating from High School. He has received a grant from the Institute for Research on African Women, Children and Culture (IRAWCC) and is a contributing reviewer of Farafina magazine. In 2004, he was described in the Guardian as a 'teenager with a steaming pen'. His writings have appeared in The Sun, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Kafla Inter-Continental and the Guardian. He's presently a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The young author has been described by Jude Dibia (runner up for the 2008 NLNG Literature Prize) as- “..... an interesting new voice. For one so young, he shows rare insights into the lives and sensibilities of people faced with racial integration; a concern as relevant today as ever before." Set mainly in India and in Nigeria, The Abyssinian Boy is based on the marriage between an Indian man and his Nigerian wife, the novel weaves a tale of love, faith and the many paradoxes of culture clash with a witty and often adventurous
narrative style.

The Abyssinian Boy will be presented to the public for the first time at a Book Launch / Book Party on Saturday 24th January 2009 at The Rotunda Hall, National Library, Opposite Casino Cinema, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos, from 12noon till 4pm. Senator S. N Anyanwu (Imo North Senatorial Zone) and Sir Bright Nwelue (former Chief Press Secretary to the Imo State Government) will be Special Guests of Honour at the event while Mr. Toyin Akinosho (Art Critic, Publisher, Africa Oil & Gas Report) will be Guest Speaker / Reviewer.

Though The Abyssinian Boy is his first novel, Onyeka has already made a name for himself, particularly on the internet through his blog and other websites where he has posted his interviews with writers from different parts of the world. Now taking his time to work through his second novel while savouring the history surrounding the idyllic Nsukka campus, Onyeka will travel again in 2009 to attend different literary festivals around the world and to promote his first novel. Copies of the The Abyssinian Boy are currently available at TerraKulture, Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island Lagos.

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- by Ayodele Arigbabu.

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Read more about Onyeka Nwelue here...