His debut novel, The Fisherman, a contemporary lyrical ‘retelling’ of the tale of the Biblical Cain and Abel, has bought many critical recognitions to itself: finalist of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2015; winner of the FT/OPPENHEIMER emerging voices prize for fiction; winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Debut Literary Work; winner of the Nebraska book award 2016-fiction category. The ‘heir to Chinua Achebe’ as has been called by a New York Times magazine heightens and garnishes the infusion of Igbo mythology in fiction with the publication of his second magical realistic work, An Orchestra of Minorities, which, no doubt, will magnet to itself critical readings, studies and awards; already a shortlisted narrative for best Translated Fiction for Winter 2020 in France.
Poem in which a Mute Bird Poos on My Father’s Newspaper it is morning, and
“A group of heavily armed men in trucks carried out an attack of mass murder,
How do we even say this: that rejection is one overused phrase drugged into every
Faiza: (smiles) What about me do you think of?
Arinze: I think of your bushy brows and your big eyes, your lush skin. And your smile. When you smile, it is like the moon.
On the road, you will see them: Brittle boys whose bodies are cities of grief.
Perhaps it was the imprudence of human thinking, but when the young priest had tagged
I am that leaf that’s desperate to leave the whole branch, the whole tree not
i say manual & rebellion rocks like a storm in my mother’s mouth // she