Two authors, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Ukamaka Olisakwe, have signed book deals with Masobe Books, a Lagos-based publishing house, for their forthcoming works in 2020.
Ibrahim’s short story collection, ‘Dreams and Assorted Nightmares,’ is described in the synopsis as a “surreal town where men die” when leaves fall from a life tree. Set in Zango, it tells “a poignant story of a special needs boy with prescience; another about the family of a philandering artist trying to pick up the pieces after his violent death; one of a teen forced to make a heart-breaking choice after her mother disappears; and another about a woman who reveals a terrible secret to her childhood friend who is in a coma.
“The stories mostly feel mystical and dark, but the palpable compassion with which they are written give them warmth and light. Like rivulets, the stories easily flow into each other, aided by Ibrahim’s signature hypnotic writing and majestic prose. This is a collection to savour especially for its many enigmas – the silent poetry and tragedies of everyday life, the darkness and tenderness of the human mind, and the crossroads between dreams and the supernatural.”
Olisakwe’s ‘Ogadinma,’ described as a “heart-wrenching novel tells the story of the naïve and trusting Ogadinma as she battles against Nigeria’s deeply-ingrained patriarchal systems in the 1980s, a time of coups, food shortages and religious extremism.
“After a rape and unwanted pregnancy leave her exiled from her family in Kano, thwarting her plans to go to university, she is sent to her aunt’s in Lagos and pressured into a marriage with an older man.
“As their whirlwind romance descends into abuse and indignity, Ogadinma is forced to channel all of her independence and resourcefulness into finding her voice and strength in the face of abuse and cultural expectations.”
Olisakwe’s work has appeared in Catapult, The New York Times, The Rumpus, Longreads, Rattle, Brittle Paper and elsewhere. ‘Ogadinma’ has been described as a modern feminist classic-in-the-making and will be published in Nigeria by Masobe Books in 2020 to coincide with its publication in the United Kingdom.
Ibrahim is an award-winning journalist and writer. He was 2016 winner of the $100,000 worth Nigerian Prize for Literature for his debut novel, ‘Season of Crimson Blossoms.’ ‘Dreams and Assorted Nightmares’ will be his second collection of short stories after ‘The Whispering Trees’ in which the titular story earned him a place in the Ako Caine Prize for African Writing’s shortlist in 2013.
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