The Tiny Things Are Heavier is set to be released in spring 2025.
By Helena Olori
Nigerian fiction writer, Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo‘s debut novel, The Tiny Things Are Heavier, has been acquired by Bloomsbury’s Amber Oliver in a North American rights agreement. The deal, brokered by Alexa Stark of Writers House on behalf of the author, will see the novel released in Spring 2025.
Reacting to the news, the debut author wrote on Twitter, “Five years of my life frozen and melted into this pursuit. To see it finally become this miracle spawned by my super-agent, Alexa Stark, and my brilliant editor, Amber Oliver, has left me floored…”
“To the literary universe that has given my life more meaning than I think one life should hold, every sentence of this book, drawn from my marrow made richer by you, is a thank you for your tutelage,” she added.
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Responding to Okonkwo’s tweet, which has received numerous positive reactions from writers and literary enthusiasts, the publisher wrote “We are so thrilled to work with @ifesinachiok and can’t wait for all of you to read this book.”
The Tiny Things Are Heavier is the story of a Nigerian woman who is dealing with the aftermath of her brother’s suicide while attending graduate school in the United States. It traces “the complicated relationships she forms—romantic and platonic—as she tries to find her place at home and abroad.”
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The author, Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD student at the Florida State University. Her fiction works have been published in Isele Magazine, Ake Review, and Catapult. She currently teaches creative writing as an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa. In 2022, Okonkwo won the inaugural Isele Short Story Prize for her fiction story, The Year of the Sun.
The Tiny Things Are Heavier will be published by Bloomsbury with the guidance of Amber Oliver, a senior editor at the New York-based independent publisher.