Literary greats, Caine Prize pay tribute to late Buchi Emecheta(1944-2017)
Florence Onyebuchi “Buchi” Emecheta was a Nigerian author who had lived in Britain since 1960.
She lost her father who was very fond of her when she was eight years old. She married at 16 and gave birth to five children in six years.
In her autobiographical writings such as ‘Second-Class Citizen’, she narrated how unhappy and violent her marriage was. When she was 22, she left her husband.
She earned a BSc degree in Sociology at the University of London while single parenting.
Her first book, In The Ditch, which was followed by SecondClass Citizen, The Bride Price, The Slave Girl, which was awarded the Jock Campbell Award, The Joys of Motherhood, Destination Biafra, Naira Power, The Rape of Shavi, Double Yoke, A Kind of Marriage, Gwendolen, Kehinde and The New Tribe. Her autobiography, Head Above Water, appeared in 1986 to much acclaim. She also wrote Children plays and articles.
During her lifetime, the writer received several awards and recognition for her literary works.
In 2010 she suffered a stroke from which she never fully recovered and after years of struggle she died on January 25, 2017 in London.
The Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing eulogized the late Buchi Emecheta who was a long-standing member of the Caine Prize Advisory Council.
The Chair of the Caine Prize Council, Dr Delia JarrettMacauley recalls: “Many years ago, shortly after graduation, I enrolled on a Birkbeck College course on African women writers led by Buchi Emecheta. A warm and spirited teacher, she sensibly introduced us to her books Second-Class Citizen and The Joys of Motherhood, and other passionate novels by writers of her generation. Buchi made us laugh and nudged us to be determined. She described rising at dawn to write before work and finding inspiration in her family’s stories. She was a true pioneer and will be greatly missed.”
Vice-President of the Caine Prize and MAN Booker Prizewinning author Ben Okri said that Buchi Emecheta “re-ignited the rich place of women at the heart of African literature and wrote brave tales about survival and motherhood. Without her, the current strong generation of women writers, who write well and fearlessly, would not exist. We owe her courage a debt of gratitude. May she rest in peace.”
For Margaret Busby, Caine Prize Advisory Council member, who was also Buchi’s editor and publisher at Allison & Busby for more than a decade in the 1970s-’80s, said, “It is with pride and a feeling of privilege that I now reflect on the fact that it was on my watch, so to speak, that her best remembered books were published - Second-Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and also her books for children. Sadly, her health deteriorated progressively over the past seven years, following a stroke, so her writing career was prematurely halted. But the resonant impact her work made on readers and fellow writers lives on.”
Nii Ayikwei Parkes, 2017 Chair of Judges and council member, commented that “Buchi Emecheta was a model of the kind of humility that makes a great writer; never self-aggrandising, always ready to listen. What made her great was that she had, in tandem with her humility, a self-possession that meant that, What made her great was that she had, in tandem with her humility, a self-possession that meant that, like Toni Morrison, she knew her voice, her story, was central and complete, needed no validation from any quarter like Toni Morrison, she knew her voice, her story, was central and complete, needed no validation from any quarter. Her confident representation of certain realities of Nigerian womanhood gave courage to a generation of young women of the global south to express themselves fully and unapologetically. I am certain her work has played no small part in the rich array of complex creative work being produced by young writers today. From her I learned that it’s important to put work out there to start a conversation, to be part of the world of conversations that affect us all as humans.”
Another Caine Prize Advisory member, Wangui wa Goro said, “Buchi Emecheta’s towering presence is always there and will remain. She was a fierce trailblazer, both in her writing and in her insistence on being heard. I had the privilege of knowing Buchi, both in the literary world and privately, and she was as funny as she was generous. She was honest about the struggles in her personal life and in the publishing and reception of her work. Her stance and courage have been vindicated as through her legacy, she has opened the doors for, and to, so many.”
James Currey, Caine Prize Advisory Council member and publisher of the African Writers Series at Heinemann, states that “Buchi Emecheta’s work was of double importance. She, Flora Nwapa and Bessie Head gave women from Africa the idea that they might get published. She also gave women - and indeed men - the idea that they could write about the wider world of the diaspora.”
Buchi Emecheta served as a judge for the Caine Prize in 2001, alongside J.M. Coetzee, Patron of the Caine Prize, the year that Helon Habila won. Nick Elam, Administrator of the Caine Prize from 1991 to 2011, recalls: “Buchi did not reveal her preference for Helon as winner, for fear of it being discounted as mere partisanship in favour of the Nigerian candidate, but she let out an explosive ululation when it became clear the decision was going his way.”
2001 Caine Prize winner Helon Habila, now Professor of Creative Writing at George Mason University, added: “Buchi’s death is a tragic loss. She was a supportive, positive role model. Her personal story of overcoming adversity and abuse to become the writer she was is inspiring not just to women but to all of us. We thank her for her books.”
“It is not just the stories Emecheta chose to tell that were bold and inspiring but also the story of her commitment to writing, even when the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against her. The first and last time I saw her she told us, a group of writers, that if you’re writing just to get published and not to earn from your work, then you are a blockhead. That sets things into perspective for any beginner writer,” 2004 Caine Prize winner and 2015 Caine Prize Judge, Brian Chikwava, said.
Caine Prize Director Lizzy Attree remembers first meeting Buchi Emecheta as a result of her contributions to the African Visions series at the British Library, programmed by the Africa Centre in Covent Garden, which ran from 2001 - 2005.
Buchi was also involved in the Reading Africa libraries project organised and funded by SABDET (Southern African Book Development Education Trust) and co-produced by Lizzy with Kate Arafa.
Buchi Emecheta was a great supporter of the Caine prize and we are extremely grateful for her service as a member of the Advisory Council. She set a great example for a new generation of African writers through her life and work, and her work was an inspiration for the shortlisted and winning authors throughout the years. She will be greatly missed.
Buchi Emecheta is survived by three of her five children. Her literary works will never be forgotten as she will remain a literary icon in the hearts of people.
Her personal story of overcoming adversity and abuse to become the writer she was is inspiring not just to women but to all of us