Gotta read it ..
The AuthorWhere did I get this bright idea about writting about us African people..lol...
There's so much to say..so much...!!!
Anywhoo I discovered this author through the queen of all media Oprah Winfrey (sorry Wendy I love ya but Oprah is genius ..period)...
Helon Habila has quite an interesting journey.
Born in a middle class family w/a father working for the Nigerian government, he was expected to be an engineer, but contrary to his parent's hope ,the love of writting that he developed through his childhood turned out to be his mission in life.
After a quick stay abroad he came back to Nigeria w/no real direction but that hunger for writting to the disappointment of his father.
By the time he figured out what we wanted to do of his life, his father and brother unfortunately had perished in a car accident.
In 2001, he won the acclaimed Caine prize ; that win was actually quite interesting because of all the candidates Helon was the only candidate without a publisher. Indeed he pretended to be his own publisher and went on to win all the same (someone correct me plizz if that expression is not used in that order)
He wrotte couple of books such as: "Waiting for an Angel", short stories collection
"Prison Stories" and his last book "Measuring Time" here's a summary of the book by Publisher Weekly:
In the late 1970s, twin brothers LaMamo and Mamo Lamang dream of leaving their Nigerian village to find fame and fortune. When they're 16, LaMamo runs away and joins various rebel factions fighting in West Africa, while his sickly brother, Mamo, stays behind with their belligerent father (their mother died in childbirth) and becomes a brilliant student. LaMamo's occasional letters let Mamo live vicariously but, more importantly, lets Habila (Waiting for an Angel) reinforce his work's central message—that the biographies of ordinary individuals provide the real stuff of history. As Mamo becomes the history teacher at a local school, LaMamo actually lives history, meeting Charles Taylor and witnessing the anarchic chaos of West Africa in the 1980s and '90s. Mamo embarks on a career as a chronicler of "biographical history" (modeled on Plutarch's Parallel Lives), beginning with a history of his village and his culture. Like his wayward brother, Mamo witnesses events that force him to examine his conscience. Habila fleshes out the novel with memorable secondary characters—a thuggish cousin, a damaged idealist love interest, an especially Machiavellian bureaucrat. The fresh, brilliant result contrasts cultural traditions with contemporary bureaucracy and reimagines a country through the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of its citizens.
If you wanna know more about the writer:
Dja Naja People are more fiya:)
Eyee Waye:)
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