Shelf Awareness
Buchi Emecheta, "the pioneering Nigerian author whose 20 novels mined her experience as a black single mother in Britain to produce work that inspired a generation of black British writers," died January 25, the Guardian reported. She was 72. Emecheta, whose work included adult and children's fiction, as well as plays, was on the inaugural Granta Best of Young British Novelists list in 1983 and was made an OBE for services to literature in 2005.
Author Aminatta Forna described Emecheta as one of Wole Soyinka's "so-called 'Renaissance generation,' those Africans who came of age at the same time as their countries. She and other writers all over the continent had both the challenge and the joy that comes with being first, of writing Africa and Africans into literary existence. They embraced the task."
Emecheta's books include The Joys of Motherhood, The New Tribe, Second Class Citizen, The Slave Girl, The Bride Price and Head Above Water. She adapted her first play, A Kind of Marriage (1976), into a novel 10 years later.
Author Aminatta Forna described Emecheta as one of Wole Soyinka's "so-called 'Renaissance generation,' those Africans who came of age at the same time as their countries. She and other writers all over the continent had both the challenge and the joy that comes with being first, of writing Africa and Africans into literary existence. They embraced the task."
Emecheta's books include The Joys of Motherhood, The New Tribe, Second Class Citizen, The Slave Girl, The Bride Price and Head Above Water. She adapted her first play, A Kind of Marriage (1976), into a novel 10 years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment