Two days ago, Akwaeke Emezi, an alumnus of Adichie’s prestigious Farafina Workshop, announced that her debut novel, Freshwater will be published by leading American publisher Atlantic Grove sometime between Fall 2017 and Winter 2018.
Emezi’s journey to becoming a debut novelist is clearly set for a happy ending!
It all began September last year when Emezie announced that she’d joined the client list of The Wylie Agency [read here if you missed it]. For those of you plugged into the African literary grapevines, you know that The Wylie Agency represents pretty much the entire African literary royalty—from Adichie to Teju Cole, including Chinua Achebe’s estate—and other high profile writers like Salman Rushdie and Al Gore. The moment Emezi became a Wylie woman, alongside Adichie, we knew something big was in the works.
Emezi is a leading figure among the new generation of African writers who are multi-talented. If you’ve been following her work (as you should be), then you know that whether she’s making films, writing stories, or writing nonfiction pieces, she’s a brilliant artist. The dedication and commitment that she brings to her work is evident in the results she produces, and we stand ever ready to cheer her on.
Remember when Emezi’s short story was published here on Brittle paper about three years ago? Well she has beyond lived up to the promise she held then, and she’s sure to soar even higher with this novel. Her fiction has been published in a Caine prize anthology. She was a writer-in-residence at the Hub City’s Writers Project, and she’s received multiple awards, both for writing and for filmmaking.
By the way, Binyavanga Wainaina is the only one we know of who has read Freshwater, which he described on Facebook as “Amazing!”
Congrats to Emezi. We can’t wait!
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Mathilda Edwards June 13, 2016 08:13
Hi! I think we may have met briefly at Ake festival last year, but by way of (proper) introduction, my name's Mathilda Edwards, I work at the Miles Morland Foundation (www.milesmorlandfoundation.com). We've been admirers of your blog for a while, and particularly enjoyed your recent post on one of our scholars this year - Akwaeke Emezi. Given our shared interest in African literature, we would love to meet you and wondered if you were planning on attending any more African literary festivals in the future, or if you have any plans to come to London? Congratulations on such a brilliant blog. Best wishes Mathilda