A Wave of Fiction Rolls Out of Nigeria
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim was bracing for a backlash when he published his debut novel, “Season of Crimson Blossoms,” in Nigeria two years ago. It centered on a devout Muslim grandmother who has an affair with a young gang leader. Mr. Ibrahim took on issues like female sexuality, drug use, corruption and ethnic violence — subjects considered taboo within northern Nigeria’s conservative, predominantly Muslim Hausa culture.
“We thought there would be a fatwa,” he said. “It talks about something that’s shocking and controversial for many people.” Instead, Mr. Ibrahim won the Nigeria Prize for Literature, which comes with a $100,000 reward, and received the African Writers’ Residency Award from Germany’s Goethe Institute. The Nigerian publishing house Cassava Republic released the novel in South Africa, Kenya, Germany, Britain and the United States.
Mr. Ibrahim’s success is a sign that the country’s literary scene is giving rise to some of the most groundbreaking fiction on the continent. Nigeria has long been a vibrant literary hub, home to celebrated writers like the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri and, more recently, the novelists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Lola Shoneyin.
In the past, successful African writers often gained renown abroad, yet weren’t widely read in their homelands. But now, many of Nigeria’s promising young authors are building an audience at home.
Diverse fiction is emerging from the country, as writers experiment with genres and explore controversial subjects like violence against women, polygamy and the rise of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Mr. Ibrahim’s publisher, Cassava Republic, has been at the forefront of Nigeria’s literary renaissance, and this spring, it began releasing its books in the United States, following its expansion into Britain last year.
Until now, much if not all of the African literature in the West has been filtered through the tastes of European and American publishers and editors, who often select works they judge to be historically significant, educational or prize worthy. “One of the things we are trying to do is expand the definition of African literature,” said Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Cassava Republic’s co-founder and publisher.
Founded in 2006, Cassava Republic has published more than 50 titles, and has expanded into romance, crime, memoir, fantasy, science fiction and children’s books. It has published several breakout commercial hits, including Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s novel “In Dependence,” which sold more than 1.7 million copies, and “The Last Days at Forcados High School,” by A. H. Mohammed, which sold more than 2.5 million copies.
Until fairly recently, Nigeria’s commercial publishing market consisted primarily of educational books. Pirated copies of books circulate at open air markets, and formal bookstores are scarce in some regions. Illiteracy remains a problem. And books are still considered a luxury for much of the population. Yet in the last decade or so, literary festivals, book prizes and writing workshops have sprung up.
Ms. Shoneyin, the author of “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,” has emerged as a prominent figure in Nigeria’s publishing scene. She founded Ouida Books and the Ake Festival, a literary event in Abeokuta. She said, “The success of a Nigerian writer shouldn’t depend on their success in the West.”