By Michael Chiedoziem Chukwudera
Arinze Ifeakandu has released his debut book, a collection of short stories titled, God’s Children are Little Broken Things yesterday, 7th June 2022. The book is published by A Public Space in the US, and by W&N in the UK on July 28th.
Arinze Ifeakandu’s collection of short stories contains nine stories which explores the inner lives of queer people, their romance, love, epiphanies and many other intricacies from a humane view and artistic view. The synopsis of the collection is below:
In this stunning debut from one of Nigeria’s most promising young writers, the stakes of love meet a society in flux.
These nine stories of queer male intimacy brim with simmering secrecy, ecstasy, loneliness, and love in their depictions of what it means to be gay in contemporary Nigeria. A man revisits the university campus where he lost his first love, aware now of what he couldn’t understand then. A daughter returns home to Lagos after the death of her father, where she must face her past—and future—relationship with his longtime partner. A young musician rises to fame at the price of pieces of himself, and the man who loves him.
Generations collide, families break and are remade, languages and cultures intertwine, and lovers find their ways to futures; from childhood through adulthood: on university campuses, city centers, and neighborhoods where church bells mingle with the morning call to prayer. God’s Children Are Little Broken Things from Caine Prize finalist Arinze Ifeakandu is a debut of emotional charge, with the touch of grace and the compassionate signature of an important new voice.
Arinze Ifeakandu, 27, hails from Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State, Nigeria. He was born in the Commercial City of Kano where he attended primary and secondary school before coming to the east where he attended University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He has for almost a decade, since his university days been a prominent queer voice in the African literary scene since he made it to the Farafina (now Purple Hibiscus Trust) Literary Workshop hosted by Chimamanda Ngọzi Adichie. His title short story, “God’s Children are Little Broken Things,” was published in A Public Space shortly afterwards, and was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2017. Ifeakandu was selected for the very selective A Public Space Writers fellowship.
Ifeakandu has been published in One Story Magazine, Guernica, and most recently, Kenyon Review. He holds an MFA from University of Iowa writers workshop, and is currently pursuing his PhD at Florida State University.
God’s Children are Little Broken Things has been listed as one of the 50 most anticipated books of 2022 by Open Country Magazine.
Congratulations to Arinze Ifeakandu.
Buy the book here.