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PROFESSOR CHRIS ABANI
The Believer article
Interview with Chris Abani said
In 1985, the Nigerian writer Chris Abani was arrested and imprisoned on
suspicion of masterminding a political coup. The evidence: his first
novel, a political thriller written two years earlier, when the novelist
was just sixteen years old. Since then, he has been imprisoned twice
more, sentenced to death, tortured by electric shock; he has also
thwarted assassins, published books of poetry, novels,
and won numerous literary awards.
Though Abani's history makes for titillating copy, he should be
best-known for his detailed, nuanced, and haunting prose. GraceLand is a
sprawling coming-of-age tale that explores the underground world of the
slums of Lagos, Nigeria. The author of this beautiful and searing novel,
which explores the kidnapping of children for their organs, vigilante
justice, civil war, incest, and Elvis-impersonation, is not a
world-weary
and embittered man. Instead, Mr. Abani is thoughtful and soft-spoken
— the
parlance of California fusing with his British-Nigerian English.
Chris Abani, Ph.D. is Professor, College of Humanities, Arts, and
Social Sciences, Creative Writing, University of California,
Riverside.
Chris won the PEN Center USA West International Freedom-to-Write Award,
USA in 2001, the
Prince Claus of the Netherlands International Writing Award, The
Netherlands in 2001, the
Imbongi Ysizwe Poetry International Award, South Africa in 2002,
and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in 2005.
Read the
full list of his awards!
He authored
Song for Night,
Graceland (Today Show Pick January 2005),
Becoming Abigail,
The Virgin of Flames,
Daphne's Lot,
Kalakuta Republic: A Book of Poetry,
Hands Washing Water, and
Dog Woman,
and edited
Conduit (Black Goat) and
Controlled Decay (Black Goat).
Read the
full list of his publications!
Chris earned his B.A. in English and Literary Studies at Imo
State University, Nigeria in 1991, his M.A. in Gender, Society, and
Culture at
Birkbeck College, UK in 1995, his M.A. in English at the University of
Southern
California, USA in 2002, and his Ph.D. in Literature and Creative
Writing at the
University of Southern California, USA in 2004.
Watch his TED talk
Chris Abani: Learning the stories of Africa.
Watch
Connie Martinson Talks Books: Chris Abani on Graceland.
Watch him
play jazz.
Listen to Chris
read
Ode to Joy from Kalakuta Republic.
Listen to
Chris Abani: In Conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
Read
West Coast kinfolk: in Los Angeles, Chris Abani and Kamau Daaood
stand
out as strong limbs on the family tree of literature,
An Interview with Chris Abani,
Today Book Club January selection:
"Graceland", and
Chris Abani: The Truthdig Interview.
Print bio!
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