Flora nwapa and buchi emecheta biography

Flora Nwapa

Nigerian writer and publisher (–)

Flora Nwapa

BornFlorence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa
()13 January
Oguta, Nigeria
Died16 October () (aged&#;62)
Enugu, Nigeria
OccupationAuthor and publisher
Alma&#;materUniversity College, Ibadan;
Edinburgh University
GenresNovels; short stories; poems; plays
Notable worksEfuru ()
Idu ()
This Is Lagos and Other Stories ()
SpouseChief Gogo Nwakuche
Children3

Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa (13 January – 16 October ), was a Nigerian author who has been called the mother of modern African Literature.[1] She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and the first African woman novelist to be published in the English language in Britain.

She achieved international recognition with her first novel Efuru, published in by Heinemann Educational Books. While never considering herself a feminist, she was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman's viewpoint.[2]

She published African literature and promoted women in African society.[3] She was one of the first African women publishers when she founded Tana Press in Nigeria in Nwapa engaged in governmental work in reconstruction after the Biafran War; in particular, she worked with orphans and refugees who were displaced during the war.[4]

Biography

Early years and education

Nwapa was born in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State,[5] in south-eastern part of Nigeria, the eldest of the six children of Christopher Ijeoma (an agent with the United Africa Company) and Martha Nwapa, a teacher of drama.[6] Flora Nwapa attended school in Oguta, Secondary School at Elelenwo in Obio Akpor LGA of Rivers State, south-south Nigeria and CMS Girls School, Lagos State, which later moved to Ibadan to merge with Kudeti Girls School and was renamed St Anne's School Ibadan.

In , when she was 22 years old, she attended university and in , at the age of 26, earned a B.A. degree from University College, Ibadan in Oyo State, southwest Nigeria. She then went to Scotland, where she earned a Diploma in Education from Edinburgh University in [7]

Family life

Flora Nwapa had three children: Ejine Nzeribe (from her previous relationship), Uzoma Gogo Nwakuche and Amede Nzeribe.

Flora nwapa and buchi emecheta biography The Guardian. All Events Post an Event. Buchi Emecheta website. Book Preview.

She was married to Chief Gogo Nwakuche.

Her uncle, A. C. Nwapa, was Nigeria's first Minister of Commerce and Industries, according to The House of Nwapa, the documentary by Onyeka Nwelue.[8]

Teaching and public service

After returning to Nigeria, Nwapa joined the Ministry of Education in Calabar as an Education Officer until She then took employment as a teacher at Queen's School in Enugu, where she taught English and Geography from to She continued to work in both education and the civil service in several positions, including as Assistant Registrar, University of Lagos (–67).[3] After the Nigerian civil war of –70, she accepted cabinet office as Minister of Health and Social Welfare in East Central State (–71), and subsequently as Minister of Lands, Survey and Urban Development (–74).[2] She was a visiting lecturer at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education in Owerri, Nigeria.

In , she was appointed a visiting professor of creative writing at University of Maiduguri.[9]

Writing and publishing

Nwapa's first book, Efuru, was published in when she was 30 years old, and is considered a pioneering work as an English-Language novel by an African woman writer.[2] She sent the transcript to the famous Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in , who replied with a very positive letter and even included money for the postage to mail the manuscript to the English publisher, Heinemann.[10][11]

Nwapa followed Efuru with the novels such as Idu (), Never Again (), One is Enough (), and Women are Different ().

She published two collections of stories&#;&#; This is Lagos () and Wives at War ()&#;&#; and the volume of poems, Cassava Song and Rice Song (). She is also the author of several books for children.[12]

In the year , she founded Tana Press, and in the Flora Nwapa Company, publishing her own adult and children's literature as well as works by other writers.[2][13] She gave as one of her objectives: "to inform and educate women all over the world, especially Feminists (both with capital F and small f) about the role of women in Nigeria, their economic independence, their relationship with their husbands and children, their traditional beliefs and their status in the community as a whole".[14][15] Tana has been described as "the first press run by a woman and targeted at a large female audience.

A project far beyond its time at a period when no one saw African women as constituting a community of readers or a book-buying demographic."[16]

At the beginning of Nwapa's literary career, as a result of the way feminism was viewed and the way it was portrayed, she had no interest in feminism because she felt it was prejudiced against men, but she eventually came to terms with it.

However, her struggle with feminism is representative of the present conversations about the movement in Africa and the world at large.[17]

Her work appeared in publications ranging from the magazines Présence Africaine and Black Orpheus in the s and '70s to the anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[18]

Later years

Nwapa's career as an educator continued throughout her life and encompassed teaching at colleges and universities internationally, including at New York University, Trinity College, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and the University of Ilorin.

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    • She said in an interview with Contemporary Authors, "I have been writing for nearly thirty years. My interest has been on both the rural and the urban woman in her quest for survival in a fast-changing world dominated by men."[2]

    Flora Nwapa died of pneumonia on 16 October at a hospital in Enugu, Nigeria, at the age of [19] Her final novel, The Lake Goddess, was posthumously published.[20]

    Selected bibliography

    Novels
    • Efuru, Heinemann Educational Books, ; Waveland Press, , ISBN&#;
    • Idu, Heinemann African Writers Series, No.

      56, ISBN&#;;

    • Never Again, Enugu: Tana Press, ; Nwamife, ; Africa World Press, , ISBN&#;
    • One Is Enough, Enugu: Flora Nwapa Co., ; Tana Press, ; Africa World Press, , ISBN&#;
    • Women are Different, Enugu: Tana Press, ; Africa World Press, , ISBN&#;
    • The Lake Goddess, Lawrenceville, NJ: Africa World Press,
    Short stories/poems
    • This Is Lagos and Other Stories, Enugu: Nwamife, ; Africa World Press, , ISBN&#;
    • Wives at War and Other Stories, Enugu: Nwamife, ; Flora Nwapa Co./Tana Press, ; Africa World Press, , ISBN&#;
    • Cassava Song and Rice Song, Enugu: Tana Press,
    Children's books
    • Emeka, Driver's Guard, London: University of London Press, ; Enugu: Flora Nwapa Company,
    • Mammywater, ; Enugu: Flora Nwapa Company,
    • The Adventures of Deke, Enugu: Flora Nwapa Co.,
    • The Miracle Kittens, Enugu: Flora Nwapa Company,
    • Journey to Space, Enugu: Flora Nwapa Company,

    Legacy

    Flora Nwapa is the subject of a documentary entitled The House of Nwapa, made by Onyeka Nwelue,[21] that premiered in August [22][23][24]

    On 13 January , Nwapa's birthday was marked with a Google Doodle.[25][26][27][28]

    Nwapa's son, Uzoma Gogo Nwakuche, founded the Flora Nwapa Foundation, a California non-profit corporation, in following the death of his mother in The Flora Nwapa Foundation celebrated Efuru50 in [29][30][31]

    See also

    References

    1. ^"Flora Nwapa: Mother of modern African Literature – DW – 05/15/".

      . Retrieved 28 June

    2. ^ abcdeLeisure, Susan "Nwapa, Flora", Postcolonial Studies Emory, Emory University, Fall
    3. ^ abLiterary Encyclopedia
    4. ^Agbo, Njideka (13 January ).

      "Florence Nwapa: The Mother of African Literature".

      Flora nwapa and buchi emecheta biography pdf: Her uncle, A. In September , she appeared in the "A Great Day in London" photograph taken at the British Library , featuring 50 Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. Goldsmiths University of London. Retrieved March

      The Guardian. Nigeria. Retrieved 22 May

    5. ^Hamilton, Janice, Nigeria in Pictures, p.
    6. ^"Interesting Things About Flora Nwapa, Nigeria’s First Female Novelist", Information Nigeria, 1 March
    7. ^Hannan, Martin, "Untold stories of Edinburgh University alumni told in new project", The National, 3 December
    8. ^Akinbode, Ayomide (13 January ).

      "Flora Nwapa: Mother of Modern African Literature".

    9. Comparative Analysis Of Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen ...
    10. Details
    11. Clear
    12. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMECHETA’S SECONDCLASS CITIZEN AND ...

      13. Retrieved 22 May

    13. ^"Flora Nwapa's sweet remembrance at UNIMAID". Tribune Online. 4 December Retrieved 22 May
    14. ^Edoro, Ainehi, "Flora Nwapa and the Letter That Changed Nigerian Literature Forever", , 24 February Retrieved March
    15. ^Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Chinua Achebe: A Biography, p.

      93, (ISBN&#;), via google-books.

    16. ^ThriftBooks. "Flora Nwapa Books | List of books by author Flora Nwapa".

      Buchi emecheta Twentieth-century Caribbean and Black African Writers. In October , a new exhibition space in the library for students at Goldsmiths, University of London , was dedicated to Buchi Emecheta, marked by a reception with short talks by Goldsmiths warden Frances Corner and the Head of Library Services, Leo Appleton, preceding an address by Margaret Busby. Critical Approaches Vol. Malthouse Press , Nigeria.

      ThriftBooks. Retrieved 27 April

    17. ^Zell, Hans M., "Publishing and Book Development in Africa: A Bibliography" (Studies on Books and Reading, UNESCO), p.&#;4.
    18. ^Busby, Margaret, "Flora Nwapa", Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent (), Vintage: , p.

    19. ^"Frankfurt Book Fair ", Flora Nwapa interviewed in The African Book Publishing Record, Vol. VII, No. 1, , p.&#;6.
    20. ^Edoro, Ainehi, "Flora Nwapa and the Letter That Changed Nigerian Literature Forever"Archived 25 March at the Wayback Machine, Brittle Paper, 3 February
    21. ^Adeleke, David I.

      (13 January ). "Everything about Flora Nwapa screamed 'feminist', everything but her own words - Ventures Africa". Ventures Africa. Retrieved 24 May

    22. ^Berrian, Brenda F., "Flora Nwapa (–): A Bibliography", Research in African Literatures, Vol. 26, No. 2, Flora Nwapa (Summer ), pp. –
    23. ^Brenda F, Berrian, "In Memoriam: Flora Nwapa (–", Signs, Vol.&#;20, No.&#;4, Postcolonial, Emergent, and Indigenous Feminisms (Summer ), pp.&#;–
    24. ^Emenyonu, Ernest N., "Flora Nwapa (–93)", in Paul Schellinger (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Novel, Vol.

      2, Routledge, , p.

      Flora nwapa and buchi emecheta biography wikipedia In , Emecheta's son Sylvester Onwordi announced the formation of the Buchi Emecheta Foundation — a charitable organisation promoting literary and educational projects in the UK and in Africa [ 43 ] — which was launched in London on 3 February at the Brunei Gallery , SOAS , together with new editions of several of her books published by Onwordi through his Omenala Press. Otokunefor Fifteen contributors from Nigerian universities write on twenty Nigerian women writers. During this time, her mother died, leaving Emecheta an orphan, with books and her imagination becoming her refuge. Retrieved 16 November — via YouTube.

    25. ^Wealth Ominabo Dickson, Interview with Onyeka Nwelue, Premium Times, 18&#;August
    26. ^Cheta Igbokwe, "Onyeka Nwelue’s ‘House of Nwapa’ Documentary Film Premiers in Zimbabwe", State Reporters, 28 August
    27. ^Ibrahim, Abubakar Adam, "‘Why I made a documentary on Flora Nwapa’". Archived 24 March at the Wayback Machine, Daily Trust, 2 October
    28. ^Ikheloa, Ikhide R., "Flora Nwapa and the house that Onyeka Nwelue built for her", Ikhide blog, 27 November
    29. ^"Flora Nwapa's 86th Birthday", Google Doodles Archive, 13 January
    30. ^"Google Celebrates Flora Nwapa with a 'This Day in History' Doodle"Archived 22 March at the Wayback Machine, Brittle Paper, 13 January
    31. ^Bakare, Tonye, "Google honours late Nigerian novelist Flora Nwapa", The Guardian (Nigeria), 13 January
    32. ^"Google celebrates Flora Nwanzuruahu Nwapa with a doodle", Vanguard, 14 January
    33. ^Ibrahim, Abubakar Adam, and Nurudeen Oyewole, "How social media inspired me to become a writer", Sunday Trusy, 21 August , via PressReader.
    34. ^"Writer, Scholars Mark 50 Years of Flora Nwapa’s Efuru In Five Cities", The Elites, 29 August
    35. ^Olatunbosun, Yinka, "Nigeria: Drums for Flora Nwapa's Efuru At 50", This Day, 4 September

    Further reading

    • Adeniyi, Idowu Emmanuel.

      "Male Other, Female Self and Post-feminist Consciousness in Sembène Ousmane's God’s Bits of Wood and Flora Nwapa’s Efuru". Ibadan Journal of English Studies 7 ()–

    • Curry, Ginette.

      Flora nwapa and buchi emecheta biography in hindi Following Emecheta's success as an author, she travelled widely as a visiting professor and lecturer. During this time, her mother died, leaving Emecheta an orphan, with books and her imagination becoming her refuge. Methodist Girls' School University of London. Retrieved 3 January

      Awakening African Women: The Dynamics of Change. London: Cambridge Scholars Press, 4 January [1].

    • Adeola, James (ed.), In Their Own Voices, African Women Writers Talk, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann,
    • Andrade, Susan Z., "Rewriting History, Motherhood and Rebellion", Research in African Literatures (): 91–
    • Ezeigbo, Theodora Akachi, "Traditional Women’s Institutions in Igbo Society: Implications for the Igbo Female Writer", Languages and Cultures 3.

      (): –

    • Githaiga, Anna, Notes on Flora Nwapa's "Efuru", Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books,
    • Ikonne, Chidi, "The Society and Woman's Quest for Selfhood in Flora Nwapa's Early Novels". Kunapipi 6. (): 68–
    • Nzegwu, Femi, Love, Motherhood and the African Heritage: The Legacy of Flora Nwapa, African Renaissance Foundation (paperback ), ISBN&#;
    • Ogunyemi, Chikwenye Okonjo, Africa Wo/Man Palava, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
    • Umeh, Marie, Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa: Critical and Theoretical Essays, Africa World Press (), ISBN&#;
    • Wilentz, Gay, Binding Cultures, Black Women Writers in Africa and the Diaspora, Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

    External links