Chris Abani was born in Nigeria in 1966 and published his first novel at sixteen. He has been imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death for his literary activities. After fleeing Nigeria he continued to write, and is the author of eight books of poetry and fiction. He teaches at UC Riverside and Antioch University, Los Angeles.

Chris Abani's prose includes Song For Night (Akashic, 2007), The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), GraceLand (FSG, 2004), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). His poetry collections are Hands Washing Water (Copper Canyon, 2006), Dog Woman (Red Hen, 2004), Daphne's Lot (Red Hen, 2003), and Kalakuta Republic (Saqi, 2001). He is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond the Margins Award & the PEN Hemingway Book Prize.

Song for Night
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Paperback: 164 pages
Publisher: Akashic Books (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1933354313
ISBN-13: 978-1933354316

The genius of Abani's work derives from his intellectual engagement with our world and his unflinching depictions, in the most mesmerizing language imaginable, of its most insidious horrors and its richest beauties. Song for Night demonstrates, yet again, why Abani ranks among our most incendiary and emotionally devastating and important writers.
—Miami Herald
 

Part Inferno, part Paradise Lost, and part Sunjiata epic, Song for Night is the story of a West African boy soldier's lyrical, terrifying, yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in search of his lost platoon. The reader is led by the voiceless protagonist who, as part of a land mine-clearing platoon, had his vocal chords cut, a move to keep these children from screaming when blown up, and thereby distracting the other minesweepers. The book is written in a ghostly voice, with each chapter headed by a line of the unique sign language these children invented. This book is unlike anything else ever written about an African war.

The Virgin of Flames
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Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 014303877X
ISBN-13: 978-0143038771

"Chris Abani is a force of nature. In the world of letters he is a luminous shattering talent, and The Virgin of Flames is his strangest and wildest trip yet. I don't think there's ever been a protagonist quite like Black, or an LA quite like this one."
—Junot Diaz

From the author of the award-winning GraceLand comes a searing, dazzlingly written novel of a tarnished City of Angels

Praised as singular (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and extraordinary (The New York Times Book Review), GraceLand stunned critics and instantly established Chris Abani as an exciting new voice in fiction. In his second novel, set against the uncompromising landscape of East L.A., Abani follows a struggling artist named Black, whose life and friendships reveal a world far removed from the mainstream. Through Blacks journey of self- discovery, Abani raises essential questions about poverty, religion, and ethnicity in America today. The Virgin of Flames, a marvelous and gritty novel filled with indelible images and unforgettable characters, confirms Chris Abani as an immensely talented writer.

Becoming Abigail
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Paperback: 120 pages
Publisher: Akashic Books (March 15, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1888451947
ISBN-13: 978-1888451948

“A lyrical yet devastating account of a young woman’s relocation to London from Nigeria . . . Abani’s abundant talent is clearly evident throughout, as is his willingness to be brutally honest without being grotesque. He also refrains from polemics and focuses solely on the artistic presentation of a young, tragic life, leaving interpretation to the reader.”
—Library Journal

Tough, spirited and fiercely independent Abigail is brought as a teenager to London from Nigeria by relatives who attempt to force her into prostitution. She flees and in the aftermath struggles to find herself in the shadow of a strong but dead mother and also the means to save the one lover she has chosen in her short life, her social worker; disgraced and now facing charges. In spare yet haunting and lyrical prose reminiscent of Marguerite Duras, Abani brings to life a young woman who lives with a strength and inner light that will enlighten and uplift the reader.

Graceland
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Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Picador; 1st Picador Ed edition (January 26, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312425287
ISBN-13: 978-0312425289

"...one of the most astonishing metropolitan novels of our time”!
—The New York Times Book Review

Today Show Pick January 2005

The sprawling, swampy, cacophonous city of Lagos, Nigeria, provides the backdrop to the story of Elvis, a teenage Elvis impersonator hoping to make his way out of the ghetto. Broke, beset by floods, and beatings by his alcoholic father, and with no job opportunities in sight, Elvis is tempted by a life of crime. Thus begins his odyssey into the dangerous underworld of Lagos, guided by his friend Redemption and accompanied by a restless hybrid of voices including The King of Beggars, Sunday, Innocent and Comfort. Young Elvis, drenched in reggae and jazz, and besotted with American film heroes and images, must find his way to a GraceLand of his own. Nuanced, lyrical, and pitch perfect, Abani has created a remarkable story of a son and his father, and an examination of postcolonial Nigeria where the trappings of American culture reign supreme.

Kalakuta Republic
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Paperback: 116 pages
Publisher: Saqi Books (September 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0863563228
ISBN-13: 978-0863563225

Kalakuta Republic is a powerful collection of poems detailing the harrowing experiences endured by Abani and others at the hands of Nigeria’s military regime in the late 1980s. Abani’s poems are dedicated to those who experienced but did not live through the suffering. In the poems, he describes the characters that people this dark world, from the prison inmates to their torturers, the generals. Kalakuta Republic is based on Abani's experience as political prisoner between 1985 and 1991.

Named after a prison cell familiar to many of Nigeria's political prisoners and dissidents, Kalakuta Republic is a powerful collection of poems detailing the harrowing experiences endured by Abani and others at the hands of Nigeria's military regime in the late 1980s.

Abani's poems are dedicated to those who shared in but did not live through the suffering, like John James, his cellmate, tortured to death in 1991 at the age of 14, and other 'kindred spirits, dreamers, fools'. In them he describes the characters that peopled his dark world, from the prison inmates to their torturers, the generals. This is Abani's first collection of poems following his release from jail, and while intense episodes are vividly described, it is above all a work greatly tinged with humanity and a durable tribute to the triumph of the human spirit.
 

Related Links

Chris Abani's Official Website
http://www.chrisabani.com