Obinna Udenwe is working on his first short story collection titled The Widow Who Died with Flowers in Her Mouth. It will be published in 2023 by Masobe Books based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Covering a wide range of characters and subjects, Udenwe’s first collection of short stories makes visible the social and political dilemmas of modern Nigerian life. According to the press statement by the publisher, the collection “gives readers an unvarnished look at the country and its people in all of their thrilling, titillating, and terrible glory.” Based on the description, it sounds like Udenwe’s new work will definitely involve complex plots with unique characters. If this book is anything like his previous ones, it will be full of exciting moments of intrigue and tension that will captivate your attention while reading.

Read the full synopsis below:

Ordinary people find, and fashion themselves into and within far-from-ordinary situations in The Widow Who Died with Flowers in Her Mouth. A beautiful woman’s half-naked body is discovered to the shock of her community; but is the killer one of her wealthy suitors? A plumber is treated to an intense sexual experience by a woman with cash, curves, and killer moves—but is she who he thinks she is? A young doctor reaches the edge of sanity after a forbidden entanglement with a married woman. A sexually promiscuous tailor’s return to her father’s house immediately sparks lust, jealousy, chaos, and violence.

Udenwe is a prolific Nigerian novelist and lives in Abakaliki in southern Nigeria. His books include Colours of Hatred (2019), Holy Sex (2016), and Satans & Shaitans (2014). Udenwe won the 2021 Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature for his novel Colours of Hatred. He was also a finalist for the 2021 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature for the same work. His first book Satans & Shaitans won the ANA Prize for Prose Fiction in 2015. His short stories have won The Prairie Schooner-Glenna Luschei Prize in 2020 and The Short Story is Dead Prize in 2016. His stories have appeared in Gutter Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Munyori Literary Journal, The Village Square Journal, Fiction 365, and Brittle Paper, among others.

Congrats to Udenwe on the new collection!