Hey Brittle Paper readers! Our 10-year anniversary celebration giveaways continue this week. Up for grabs this time round are three titles from Masobe Books, one of our favorite independent Nigerian publishers. The titles, along with their descriptions from Masobe Books, are:

1.A Broken People’s Playlist (2020), by Chimeka Garricks

A Broken People’s Playlist is a collection of short stories with underlying themes so beautifully woven that each story flows into the other seamlessly. From its poignant beginning in “Lost Stars” a story about love and it’s fleeting, transient nature to the gritty, raw musical prose encapsulated in “In The City”, a tale of survival set in the alleyways of the waterside. A Broken People’s Playlist is a mosaic of stories about living, loving and hurting through very familiar sounds, in very familiar ways and finding healing in the most unlikely places.

The stories are also part-homage and part-love letter to Port Harcourt (the city which most of them are set in). The prose is distinctive as it is concise and unapologetically Nigerian. And because the collection is infused with the magic of evocative storytelling, everyone is promised a story, a character, to move or haunt them.

2. Aviara (2020), by Othuke Ominiabohs

When twenty-five-year-old Anthony Mukoro returns from the city, to his hometown Aviara, it is with news that shatters the hopes of his retired parents – he is dying. This startling revelation sends his family into a frantic search for answers. But the answers they seek will come at a cost.

To save his life, he must confront forgotten memories from a traumatic experience in his past and a darkness that swells and grows unnoticed within the town. Unknown to Anthony, this begins a journey that will lead him into a dark world of murder and a town’s history steep in blood and shadows.

Aviara explores the complex balance between science and spirituality, fate and ancestry, within the labyrinth of one man’s unravelling reality.

3. I Do Not Come To You By Chance (2009), by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

As first son and graduate, Kingsley Ibe has a load of responsibilities resting on his skinny shoulders. But times are bad in Nigeria, and life is hard. Unable to find work, Kingsley cannot take on the duty of training his younger siblings, nor can he provide his parents with financial peace in their retirement. And then there is Ola his girlfriend, the sugar in Kingsley’s tea. It does not seem to matter that he loves her deeply; he cannot afford her bride price.

But when Kingsley’s father falls sick, he becomes desperate to live up to his responsibilities. So he travels to Aba, to his wealthy uncle, ‘Cash Daddy’.

Under the avuncular wing of ‘Cash Daddy’, Kingsley is catapulted into the fast-money world of email scamming where he discovers a profitable talent for persuasive storytelling. But, as the stakes grow higher and Cash Daddy grows more ambitious, Kingsley begins to realise he is in way over his head and that, even in Nigeria, nothing comes for free . . .

I Do Not Come to You by Chance, a book which the author deems an idea that came before the novel, is one that through the Protagonist, Kingsley, attempts to explore the journey from good to bad and the blurred lines in between.

Here’s how to enter:

  1. Follow us on Instagram @brittlepaper (if you’re already following us on that platform, good for you!)
  2. Follow Masobe Books @masobebooks
  3. Like the Masobe Books giveaway post on Instagram.
  4. Tag two friends in the comments section of the Masobe Books giveaway post.

This giveaway is open to readers in Nigeria only. The giveaway closes on Sunday, September 20.

The winner will meet all the above criteria and will be chosen randomly. He/she/they will be notified via DM on Instagram and will receive a hardcopy of each of the abovementioned three books.

Spread the word, tag your friends, and keep your fingers crossed!

Many thanks to Masobe Books for their support.