Ben Okri

“It was the beginning of African literature getting a space in Western literary culture and it was very impactful on me because it told stories that I hadn’t come across before. It’s the story of a spirit child and Africa has a strong spiritual tradition. In fact, our whole culture is based on a lot of spiritual practice…When this book came out I was, like, ‘Wow! I get this, this speaks to me, it makes a lot of sense.'” Read more...

The Best African Novels

Blessing Musariri, Novelist

“It is the story of a young painter, Omovo, who lives in a compound in Nigeria. He is trying to make sense of the environment around him, the oppression, poverty and corruption. His father is a very harsh man, who is feeling emasculated by his current wife. Omovo is in love with his neighbour’s young wife. So all this is going on in this novel and Okri handles it brilliantly. The main story is about Omovo’s escape through his art, his painting. Through this he is able to express his inner protest. He is very young and during the book you see his growing consciousness about what is going on around him. As the name of the first version suggests, it is a book about exploring one’s inner landscape, about refection, about bringing order to the daily chaos around. The setting is the 1970s, just after the Nigerian civil war, so you have that militaristic echo, a feeling of violence in the air, forming a backdrop of oppression and violence which is threatening to Omovo’s art. Okri describes it all beautifully, suggestively, through vivid imagery and metaphors.” Read more...

The best books on Nigeria

Helon Habila, Novelist