There’s a heat wave right now in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, which spreads inland from the Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country; the sixth-largest country in the world. Five major languages are spoken, including English, but there are over 500 indigenous languages as well. Lagos was the capital until 1991, when the planned city of Abuja became the capital. More centrally located, it is also less congested and more politically and ethnically neutral.
The Nigerian film industry - “Nollywood” - is second only to India’s Bollywood in production rate, and is the second largest employer in the country. Nigerians view the creative arts as vibrant expressions of their culture. Wole Soyinka, awarded the Nobel Prize for his body of work in 1986, is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and playwright. His most recent work is “Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth” (2021). For more Nigerian authors and books, read on:
Fiction
Chinua Achebe - a central figure in modern African literature
Ben Okri - winner of the Booker Prize
Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - a central figure in postcolonial feminist literature
Akwaeke Emezi - fiction writer and visual artist
Chigozie Obioma - award-winning writer and poet
Titilola “Lola” Shoneyin - poet and author
The Secret Lives of the Four Wives
Nnedi Okoroafor - science fiction and fantasy writer who coined the term Africanfuturism
Ayobami Adebayo - award-winning writer and poet
Nonfiction
–Beth Wood is a senior collection development librarian for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org.
New at the Library
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
FICTION
NONFICTION
How Black Music Took Over the World
CHILDREN
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