2019 Broker Prize Award Nigerian Writer Longlisted

Nigerian writer, Chigozie Obioma’s second novel “An Orchestra of Minorities,” was announced on Wednesday as one of the books in the running for the Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award.

Obioma, whose novel “The Fishermen” was a Finalist on the Booker Prize in 2015, faces strong competition for the award. Other nominated books include Salman Rushdie’s forthcoming “Quichotte,” about a traveling salesman who drives across the United States, and “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World” by Elif Shafak, about a prostitute in Istanbul.

Of Igbo descent, Obioma was born into a family of 12 children — seven brothers and four sisters – in Akure, in the southwestern part of Nigeria, where he grew up speaking Yoruba, Igbo, and English. As a child, he was fascinated by Greek myths and the British masters, including Shakespeare, John Milton, and John Bunyan. Among African writers, he developed a strong affinity for Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero; Cyprian Ekwensi’s An African Night’s Entertainment; Camara Laye’s The African Child; and D. O. Fagunwa’s Ògbójú ?d? nínú Igbó Irúnmal??, which he read in its original Yoruba version. Obioma cites his seminal influences as The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola, for its breadth of imagination; Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, for its enduring grace and heart; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, both for the power of their prose; and Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe, for its firmness in Igbo culture and philosophy.

Obioma’s first novel, The Fishermen, has been translated into 27 languages and has received several awards. In addition to being listed as a 2015 New York Times Sunday Book Review Notable Book[8] and a New York Times Sunday Book Review Editor’s Choice selection.
Nigerian writer, Chigozie Obioma, longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize

Share: