Nigerian literature
For this very reason, the book later became stylistic and highly regarded, although it was criticised at the time for maligning Nigerians as barbaric, perpetually drunken people and provoking racist fantasies.
Playwright John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo staged his first play Song of a Goat here in 1962, a synthesis of forms of ancient theatre and a theme always relevant in Africa - fertility and motherhood - for the European-educated young generation.
[4] In 1966, he documented the festival of a hero of the Ijaw people, which is celebrated every 25 years in the Niger Delta, in the original language in his drama Ozidi, adapted it dramatically and translated it into English.
[5] The only representative of négritude in Nigeria was considered to be the essayist and literary scholar Abiola Irele, who became the director of the journal Black Orpheus in 1968.
[7] Considered the most important founding figure of English-language literature in West Africa, Chinua Achebe, winner of the 2002 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, made his debut as a novelist and poet with Things Fall Apart (1958),[8][9] which, along with No Longer at Ease (1960),[10][11] is his magnum opus.
They depict the workings of the patriarchal and age-grouped society that enables the resolution of problems and conflicts, and the role of the kola nut in all family ceremonies.
They address the themes that will run throughout their work: the role of children in the family, the consequences of female infertility, the position of women in Nigerian society and their vital need for economic independence.
[22] Buchi Emecheta, a Nigerian living in London, dealt with themes such as motherhood, social contrasts and independence and freedom for women.
[25]Ben Okri first wrote short stories about social and political problems, some of which were published in women's magazines and evening newspapers.
In 1991, he won the Booker Prize in the fiction category for The Famished Road, a magical surrealist novel about Azaro, a "spirit child".
Criticism of the Nigerian military dictatorship cost the novelist, screenwriter and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa his life: he was sentenced to death in 1995 under Sani Abacha's regime.
[31] Femi Osofisan uses surrealistic stylistic devices and traditional African forms of expression with an educational purpose in his approximately 60 plays.
[33] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's literary career took off with the publication in 2003 of Purple Hibiscus, an initiation novel in which a brother and sister finally find their voices again.
Among the younger Nigerian authors is Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, who won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the best debut novel with I Do Not Come to You by Chance in 2010.
It describes the story of a young academic, Kingsley Ibe, who is unable to find a position yet is expected to care for his retired parents and younger siblings.
His wealthy uncle Boniface offers a way out of this dilemma, but demands Kingsley's involvement in his criminal and risky email scam business.
[49] An Orchestra of Minorities (2019), shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker Prize,[50] describes the fate of a Nigerian chicken farmer who moves to Northern Cyprus to earn the money that will win him the heart of the woman he loves.
[53] His debut novel, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, was shortlisted for the inaugural Nero Book Awards in the 'Debut Fiction' category[54] and longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize.
[55] Further Nigerian writers include: Daniel O. Fagunwa, Tanure Ojaide, Chris Abani, Ayobami Adebayo, Akwaeke Emezi, Nuzo Onoh, Yemisi Aribisala, A. Igoni Barrett, B.M.
Dzukogi, Helen Oyeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Uju Obuekwe, Chinelo Okparanta, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Chika Unigwe, Ogaga Ifowodo, Melekwe Anthony, Gift Foraine Amukoyo, Teju Cole, Niyi Osundare and Oyinkan Braithwaite.
Duro Ladipo, son of an Anglican clergyman, was a playwright who wrote exclusively in Yoruba and adapted ancient myths, fairy tales and stories from Christian, Islamic or Yorubian traditions in his plays, in which he himself acted.
A special role in the discovery and promotion of Yoruba literature was played by Oyekan Owomoyela, who taught in the USA and edited anthologies of trickster tales and proverbs.
It is a historical narrative about a poor boy who rises to become a wealthy trader and paramount chief, but sells his apprentices as slaves to compensate himself for losses of goods suffered, and still becomes impoverished.
[58] Initially, efforts to promote literature in Igbo remained largely unsuccessful for a long time, especially since Chinua Achebe achieved his major book success in English with Things Fall Apart in 1958.
During the 14 Kingdoms (until 1804) many authors produced books that dealt with theology, history, biography, mathematics, language, writing, documentaries, geography, astronomy, diplomacy and poetry.
