Water Baby is a coming-of-age story set in the real settlement of Makoko in Nigeria and deals with the societal pressures on nineteen-year-old Baby who is trying to escape the future her father has planned for her. The novel also explores wider issues such as climate change, digitalisation, and gentrification/resettlement.
Stephen Buoro’s book tells the story of fifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza, who lives in Kontagora, Nigeria and is an exploration of the ordinary but impossible challenges of coming of age in post-colonial Nigeria.
In discussing their books with Sade Fadipe Stephen and Chioma will explore the legacy of colonialism, issues of identity, migration and religion.
Born in Nigeria, Chioma Okereke grew up in London and studied law at UCL. She started her writing career as a performance poet before turning her hand to prose. Her debut novel, Bitter Leaf (Virago), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Chioma is also the founder of Makoko Pearls, an organisation set up to benefit the inhabitants of the community.
Born in Nigeria, Stephen Buoro has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia as well as a first class degree in Mathematics, and is a recipient of the Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship. He was awarded second place in the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award, and is currently studying for a fully-funded PhD in Creative & Critical Writing at UEA.
Praise for The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa
‘A voice unlike any other’ Observer
‘A literary blockbuster’ Guardian
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