Okparanta admits that her writing has always been motivated by a sense of social justice and a desire to work through all kinds of societal problems that plague her deeply.īhakti Shringarpure is the Creative Director of Radical Books Collective.A moving debut story collection centered on Nigerian women, as they build lives out of longing and hope, faith and doubt, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, and the burden and strength of love.Ī triumphant collection of stories centered on Nigerian women as they build lives out of love and longing, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, by an award-winning writer who “is a certainly a voice to watch, and clearly deserves a place on any bookshelf beside fellow Nigerian authors Achebe and Adichie' (Bustle). Undergirding all her writing is her experience as a migrant in the US and challenges she is forced to navigate on a daily basis. In this podcast, she spoke honestly about her motivations for taking on this complicated experiment. Okparanta's most recent novel is Harry Sylvester Bird which is a searing meditation on race in the United States and in which Okparanta writes through the consciousness of a liberal, white American male.

Her books have been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Etisalat Prize for Literature and many others, and she was selected by Granta for their Best of Young American Novelists list which is announced every decade. She has been the winner Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 20 and the Publishing Triangle's inaugural Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award.

This novel of queer, forbidden love established Okparanta as a fearless writer who could tackle difficult, politically charged topics. Her next book Under the Udala Trees (2015) told the story of desire between two young girls as the war rages in 1960s Nigeria. She rose to prominence with her short story collection Happiness, Like Water (2013) which was a bittersweet reflection on the lives of Nigerian women living in Nigeria and in the US. Okparanta was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when she was 10 years old.

Nigerian-American writer Chinelo Okparanta joins host Bhakti Shringarpure for an episode of BookRising as part of our Trailblazing African Feminists series.

Happiness like water