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Ondjaki
Ever-obi
Ever Obi
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Nikhil Singh
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Onyeka Nwelue

Transparent City, Men Don’t Die and Club Ded

Ondjaki, Ever Obi and Nikhil Singh Interviewed by Onyeka Nwelue

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

4:00pm

1 hour

Bodleian: Divinity School

£7 - £12.50

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.

Event sponsored by

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society
 

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society