The South African-based Nigerian writer and filmmaker Akin Omotoso has optioned the novel Waiting for an Angel by Nigerian writer Helon Habila, for TV. The project will be a four-episode limited series, most likely set in Lagos, Nigeria.

This news comes at a perfect time with Waiting for an Angel set to celebrate its twentieth anniversary in November.

First published in 2002 by W.W. Norton & Company, the novel explores themes of political tyranny, love and courage, poverty, and loss, through the eyes of a journalist in military-ruled Nigeria. The book won the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize, with its first chapter winning the Caine Prize for African Writing two years prior. Habila is also credited with being one of the few writers to chart new grounds for contemporary Nigerian literature, especially in the years following military rule.

Akin Omotoso is the director of the recently acclaimed sports drama Rise, which was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He starred in the movies Queen of Katwe and Man on Ground, and directed the movies Vaya and Tell Me Sweet Something, which won two awards at the 2016 African Movie Academy Award. Omotoso is the brother of Nigerian novelist Yewande Omotoso, author of Bom Boy, and son of Kole Omotoso, Nigerian writer and academic.

Stay tuned for more details as they unfold!