Narrative Landscape Press signs new authors, acquires new titles

Narrative Landscape Press has signed three new authors: Chibundu Onuzo, Yejide Kilanko and Akbar Hussain. The company said in a statement it will be publishing their books—Union, Juba and the Fireball and Moan of the Marabou, respectively. It also announced the acquisition of two new titles: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o and Segu by Maryse Condé. The books will be published as part of its 2020/2021 releases.

Onuzo is an award-winning author. Her first novel, The Spider King’s Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award. It was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature (now the 9mobile Prize). Her upcoming novel, Union, is a captivating account of the journey of a grown woman to Africa in a quest to reunite with her biological father. It is an enthralling tale of love, rejection and acceptance.

Kilanko is a writer of novels, short stories and poetry. Her debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path (2012), a Canadian national bestseller, was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature (now the 9mobile Prize) and the Nigeria Literature Prize. In 2012, she was named one of the top five hottest up-and-comers on the Canadian writing scene by the Globe and Mail. Her work includes a novella, Chasing Butterflies (2015) and a children’s picture book, There Is an Elephant in My Wardrobe (2018).  In Juba and the Fireball, Yejide’s upcoming children’s book, Juba learns to manage his anger after it causes him to break Maami’s dyeing pot. It is a fable that teaches temper management for kids.

Hussain is a writer and a start-up lawyer. He lives in Nairobi, Kenya. Narrative Landscape Press will be publishing, Moan of the Marabou, his debut work, which is described as a “front-line report” from Nairobi’s ongoing tryst with capitalism and democracy. Imagine if Joseph O’Neil and the Notorious BIG collaborated on the page, this is the tenor of Moan of the Marabou, a laconic, wry, keenly observed study of a time and place. It is an urban crime thriller following in the footsteps of William Boyd’s Ordinary Thunderstorms, Toni Kan’s The Carnivorous City, and Leye Adenle’s When Trouble Sleeps. With this book, Narrative Landscape Press asserts its bona fides as a pan-African publishing house for all African voices.

Sulwe, a New York Times bestseller, tells a powerful story about a child’s struggle with colourism, self-esteem and the true beauty that comes from within. Written by Academy Award-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o, this stunning debut picture book creates a whimsical and heart-warming story to inspire children to see their unique beauty. Narrative Landscape Press will be publishing a paperback edition for the West African market. It will be released in the second quarter of 2020.

Maryse Condé is a novelist, critic and playwright. Segu (1984) and its sequel, Segu II: The Children of Segu (1985) are Maryse Condé’s major works and best-selling novels. The books examine the violent impact of the slave trade, Islam, Christianity, and white colonisation on a royal family in the early to mid-nineteenth century. In 2018, Condé won The New Academy Prize in Literature, a newly created alternate award to the Nobel Prize in Literature. Narrative Landscape Press will be publishing the French and English editions of the first of this duo of novels, which will be released in the first quarter of 2020.

Narrative Landscape Press is a Lagos-based independent publishing company founded by Anwuli Ojogwu and Eghosa Imasuen in 2016. Their authors include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Marlon James.