Ondjaki, Ever Obi and Nikhil Singh Interviewed by Onyeka Nwelue

African writers Ondjaki, Ever Ob and Nikhil Singhi talk about their work, their writing lives, influences, and the importance of place and culture.

Ondjaki’s latest novel, Transparent City, is a work of magical realism, political satire, comedy and literary experimentation. The melancholic Odonato is living in a Luanda apartment block. He is nostalgic for the country of his youth and searching for his son. As his hope drains away and the city outside changes, his flesh becomes transparent and his body weightless.

‘Ondjaki is experimentally bold, and his prose shifts through a kaleidoscope of registers, from the poetic to the political, the erotic to the absurd.’ The TLS

Ondjaki is Angolan and writes in Portuguese. He is the most prominent African writer of Portuguese since the former colonies achieved independence in 1975.

Obi was born in Nigeria and lives in Lagos where he works in financial risk management. His debut novel is Men Don’t Die, the story of Brume Lauva who decides to run away from his life and a girlfriend that shatter his heart with some stolen money. On the way to Lagos, the bus he is in crashes and he is the only survivor and without a scratch.

Singh is a South African writer, artist and musician. His debut novel Taty Went West was shortlisted for best African novel in the Nommo Awards. His latest is a psychedelic-noir novel, Club Ded.

Discussions are chaired by filmmaker, talk-show host, writer, bookseller and teacher Onyeka Nwelue, an academic visitor at the University of Oxford African Studies Centre and founder of the James Currey Prize for African Literature. He is also advisor to the festival’s programme of African literature and culture.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of African literature and culture.