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To my friend, Ngozi Adichie: way to go!

Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
USAfricaonline.com and NigeriaCentral.com

By CHIKA UNIGWE

Nigeria may be out of the 2002 soccer World Cup but it is definitely in in creative writing!

A few weeks ago, I learnt that someone I know personally has been nominated for the prestigious Caine Prize for African writing. It is a prize awarded for a short story. This year's short listed candidates include a Nigerian young woman, Ngozi Adichie.
It was won last year by a Nigerian man, Helon Habila.

I am proud to say that I have known Ngozi since she was in High School. I read her earliest manuscripts and I am enormously proud of her. Nigeria should be proud of her. Her nominated story is titled You in America published in Zeotrope and available on the web.  

As a short story writer myself, I am also not immune to being a bit (just a bit) envious of my friend. I read her works sometimes and I wish I had written them myself. Other times, I read them and I think, I could have written that! (as you can tell, self-flattery seems an occasional weakness of mine).

Ngozi writes with such a passion that she carries you along on her words. You smell the characters, you live the characters, you see the characters. It is not often that one reads works that could compare to hers.   

I will be rooting for Ngozi as the results are announced in July. No matter the outcome, the nomination on its own is a great honour for Nigeria and for a writer who is still in her twenties.

On a final note, you should read  A Squatter's tale by Ike Oguine ( published by Heinemann); This is a young man I am also proud to identify as a personal friend. Also watch out for works by Unoma Azuah. She has been published in several anthologies.
Unigwe, an alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; KU Leuven and UC Louvain in Belgium, is USAfricaonline.com and USAfrica The Newspaper contributing editor and columnist. She is the author of 'Teardrops', a collection of poems, and her short story, 'Touched by an Angel', was broadcast on the BBC World Service.

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