By Onyeka Nwelue.
January is my month of birth and it is that month when new things happen. New Year, new films, new books and new authors, but I am very concerned about the authors and books we would be reading from January. Are these authors published years ago? Or the ones who will get published this year? Or authors who haven’t seen their bearings yet? There are lovely books I have picked and believe that they will be the only things readers will be grappling for in 2013 and they are:
Emmanuel Iduma
In January of 2012, I travelled to Lisbon, Portugal for the first time and before the end of the year; I went to Lisbon five times. There is a Portuguese writer called Jose Saramago, whose house I visited. His prose is very lush and he writes delicate fiction. Just like Saramago, this 23 year-old Nigerian writer, Emmanuel Iduma has penned one of the most beautiful fictional works ever to be published. Stylistically crafted, appealing to the heart, Farad is a novel that rivets and almost sends you onto the dance-floor, knowing that you have just read something so refreshing and nice. If you do not get this book this year, your life will never be the same and if you do, you will thank me for recommending it to you. You will read it and wish you ever wrote it.
Eghosa Imasuen
For many months, I carried To Saint Patrick, the first novel, which Eghosa Imasuen wrote, around. I bought it as gifts to people. I wanted them to read the kind of stories the New Nigerian Writer can write. I thought that was the end; Eghosa published a new book, Fine Boys. Not only is the book’s cover fine, the prose is laced with some indescribable fineness, which makes it glaringly charming. For those who long to read on beaches, Fine Boys might be that novel you will see yourself reading, in your Bermuda shorts lying on a mat on the bank of the lake, or at the beach, but the amazing thing is that the story will transport you to a world you already know.
Sefi Atta
She is always working on something. She gave us Everything Good Will Come and has given us more books and even stage plays. A Bit of Difference is her new novel. I see her as one of the finest writers of her generation. There is grace to her prose; the way she writes, very smoothly, serenading the mind of the reader in a slow, but uncanny way. I see her winning many awards in 2013 and I see her shining all through generations as well. No pun intended.
Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo
There is one book which tells the Biafran story more than any other fictional work by any Nigerian. It is Bullets and Roses. It shocked me when she didn’t win the Soyinka Prize for Literature in 2012, but I strongly believe that in 2013, this author, whose power of description matches the best across generations will shock everyone. There may not be any writer who understands the human emotions and predicaments just like this writer.
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma is that writer everyone should look out for in 2013. She understands the aesthetics of writing as an art form and spins words like she is possessed by the Demons of Words. Her new book, Shadows has been received well and she is glowing in its splendour. But the good thing is that in 2013, Novuyo would have charmed every heart ready to be charmed and won enough accolades to last her in the writing sphere. She is a writer to watch. Sincerely.
Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
Not because I know him or because he is my very good friend, Sylva Nze Ifedigbo will become the biggest literary sensation in 2013 if people throng to buy copies of his book, The Funeral Did Not End, just like they attended the Koko Concert recently. It is one thing to find a writer, whose style is simple, yet, surreal. He writes like he doesn’t care about the world, but he deeply cares. His sense of humour is above grounds and makes him more enjoyable than anything else. If there is a way we can describe him in one word, it is: SUPERB.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
She eventually became a literary phenomenon. From Purple Hibiscus to Half of a Yellow Sun, to the The Thing Around Your Neck and to Americana, which is out already, Adichie continues to enjoy this huge fan base that no African writer in years has enjoyed. Even as we complain about the repetitiveness in her storytelling, we are still charmed by the beauty of her words; we still revel in the way she describes things and her infusion of Igbo language with English to create a lasting beauty to her writing. With her new work, Adichie will still be the Queen in 2013.
Onyeka Nwelue is a Nigerian. He is a novelist, short story writer, poet, filmmaker and journalist. He is recognized by critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. His novel is The Abyssinian Boy, which critics hailed as ‘out-of-the-box’. He won the 2009 TM Aluko Prize for Fiction and Ibrahim Tahir Prize for First Book. He has been nominated thrice for the Creative Artiste of the Year at the Future Awards. He lives in Prague.
Photo Credit: www.bookaholicblog.blogspot.com; www.tedxife.com; www.supernigerian.com; www.jeffunaegbu.blogspot.com; www.novuyotshuma.wordpress.com; www.nationalmirroronline.net; & www.lectures.princeton.edu
