If you need to have 5 Nigerian books in your shelf, then I suggest you read these 5 books written by foremost Nigerian authors. Nigeria has been on the world map through her literary works. Nigerian writers have been immense in their storytelling styles and traditional backgrounds. There are numerous books written by Nigerians which have won several awards and recognition but this five I bring to you in no particular order.
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It was first published in 1958. It is a milestone in African literature. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, it is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Things Fall Apart has been translated into more than 50 languages, and is often used in literature, world history, and African courses across the world. It was listed by Encyclopedia Britannica as one of 12 novels considered the ‘’The Greatest Book Ever Written’’. The book has won several awards for the author including The Man Booker Award.
Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel written by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor. The novel tells the story of the Biafran war through the perspective of its characters. Half of a Yellow Sun received the 2007 Orange Prize for fiction. The award is given annually for the best original full-length novel written by a woman in English; the prize amounted to 30,000 pounds. The novel was well received by critics and it was included in the New York Times’ ‘’100 Most Notable Books of the Year’’.
The Trials of Brother Jero is a play written by Nigerian foremost writer Wole Soyinka. The play was first published in Nigeria in 1963 and by Oxford University Press in 1964. The novel is a light satiric comedy that takes aim at religious hypocrisy in the form of a charlatan, or fraud, named Brother Jero. He preaches to his followers on Bar Beach in Lagos, Nigeria. This is one of the several works by the Nobel Laureate receiver and one of his widely acclaimed works.
Children of Blood and Bone is a young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian-American novelist Tomi Adeyemi. The book, which was Adeyemi’s debut novel, has received generally positive reviews. It debuts at number one on the New York Times best-seller list for young adult books. The book was published in 2018 by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers after being called ‘’the biggest fantasy debut of 2018’’ and one of the most anticipated books of the year. A sequel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance is said to be published in June 2019.
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta. It was published in London, UK, by Alison & Busby in 1979 and was reprinted in Heinemann’s African Writers series in 2008. The basis of the novel is the ‘’necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons’’. The author, Buchi Emecheta in recent years received UK’s greatest honor, OBE. He has several other works to his name.