Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma is one of several recipients of the Silvers Grant for Work in Progress for his memoir I Am Still With You.

The Silvers Grant for Work in Progress was established in 2019 and is awarded in honor of Robert B. Silvers, a founding editor of the New York Review of Books. The award provides financial support to “writers working in the fields of long-form literary and arts criticism, the intellectual essay, political analysis, and social reportage.” To be eligible, applicants must have signed the contract for a forthcoming book.

Iduma’s memoir is set for publication next year by Algonquin in the US and William Collins in the UK. I Am Still With You centers on Iduma’s family’s experience of the Biafran war. Read the synopsis published on Bookseller.

In I Am Still With You Emmanuel Iduma retraces his family history to uncover the truth of what happened to his uncle, who enlisted in the Biafran infantry army in his twenties – never to return. Revealing the impact of conflict on memory and on families, he explores the experience of losing someone, not knowing for sure that they have died. Combining personal essay with history and travel writing, it is a richly woven, humane and moving portrait of not only the Biafran war but the intergenerational consequences of civil conflict and the psychological impact upon its communities.

Congrats to Iduma. Wishing him tons of good luck as he completes the book. We can’t wait to read it when it comes out next year.