Chris Abani: Muses on Humanity
Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It’s “ubuntu,” he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.
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ABOUT Chris Abani
“Chris Abani’s first novel, published when he was 16, was ‘Masters of the Board’, a political thriller about a foiled Nigerian coup. The story was convincing enough that the Nigerian Government threw him in jail for inciting a coincidentally timed real-life coup. Imprisoned and tortured twice more, he channeled the experience into searing poetry.
His best-selling 2004 novel ‘Grace Land’ is a searing and funny tale of a young Nigerian boy, an Elvis impersonator who moves through the wide, wild world of Lagos, slipping between pop and traditional cultures, art and crime. It’s a perennial book-club pick, a story that brings the post-colonial African experience to vivid life. Now based in Los Angeles, Chrs published ‘The Virgin of Flames’ in 2007. He is also a publisher, running the poetry imprint Black Goat Press.”
The VIDEO
