New Book Alert: Chibundu Onuzo’s Third Novel Out In June 2021
Uchenna Emelife reports,
Nigerian award-winning writer, Chibundu Onuzo has just announced that her third novel, titled, Sankofa, will be out in June, 2021.
Sankofa wfich tells the story of a mixed-race British woman who goes in search of the West African father she never knew, will be available upon release in the UK, the US, and Nigeria.
"I can finally announce that my third novel #SANKOFA will be out next year in the U.K., the US and Nigeria!!" Chibundu Onuzo wrote in part.
The Bookseller reported that the publisher of Virago Books, Sarah Savitt acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for Sankofa from Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates, for publication in June 2021. While Jonathan Lee at Catapult has acquired US rights and Anwuli Ojogwu at Narrative Landscape Press has acquired Nigerian rights.
Plot Synopsis: "In middle age, after separating from her husband and losing her mother, Anna finds her father's student diaries, chronicling his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. She discovers that he eventually became the president – some would say the dictator – of the West African country of Bamana. And he is still alive. Anna decides to track him down and her journey will lead her to a new understanding of both her past and her potential future, as well as an exploration of race, identity and what we pass on to our children.”
Onuzo in response to what inspired the novel, told The Bookseller: “I spent four years at King’s College London, researching the West African men (and it was mostly men) who came to Britain for university from 1925 to the 1970s. Many of them joined a group called the West African Students’ Union. Some were radical, some were political and a notable number returned home to join independence struggles on the African continent. I wondered what would happen if one of these men left a child behind. How old would she be? How would her life have been shaped by the presence of a white mother and the absence of her black father? And thus the novel Sankofa was born.”
Onuzo's first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, was published by Faber in 2012 and won the Betty Trask Award, and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize. Her second novel, Welcome to Lagos, was published by Faber in 2017 and shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. In 2018 Onuzo was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative. This year, "Dolapo is Fine", a short film which Onuzo co-wrote and co-produced, is one of five finalists for the 2020 American Black Film Festival’s Annual HBO Short Film Competition.
Congratulations Chibundu Onuzo!
