Sefi Atta, novelist and playwright teams up with novelist and scriptwriter, Chibundu Onuzo, to tease this monologue which, according to the YouTube description is “set in contemporary Lagos, before the COVID-19 pandemic and #EndSARS protests, Ikoyi Girl presents a self-described poor little rich African girl with First World problems.”
In Ikoyi Girl, Sefi returns to her familiar Ikoyi setting, the shenanigans of the rich and their unravelling. Family dysfunction makes a cameo as is usual with Sefi Atta even as she addresses big contemporary themes from sexual harassment to the #MeToo movement.
Ms. Onuzo delivers a riveting performance that captures the heart and soul and nuances of the monologue.
This is a paean to millennial angst.
Chibundu Onuzo (PhD) was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and her life so far spans two military dictatorships, one Internet revolution, two boarding schools, five grandmothers and a first book deal signed at 19. Onuzo’s first novel, The Spider King’s Daughter, was published by Faber in 2012, won a Betty Trask Award, and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize. Her second novel, Welcome to Lagos, was published by Faber in 2017 and shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Encore Award. In 2018 Onuzo was elected as a Fellow of the RSL, as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative. She also presented Chibundu Onuzo: 1991, a music, dance and spoken-word extravaganza, at the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival. Last year, Dolapo Is Fine, a short film which Onuzo co-wrote and co-produced, won the 2020 American Black Film Festival’s Annual HBO Short Film Competition and was an official selection for the London Film Festival. Her next novel, Sankofa, is forthcoming in June 2021.
Sefi Atta is a Nigerian American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and screenwriter. She was born and raised in Lagos and now spends most of her time in Mississippi. She is the author of novels Everything Good Will Come (2005), Swallow (2010), A Bit of Difference (2013) and The Bead Collector (2019); a short-story collection, News from Home (2010); a children’s book, Drama Queen (2018); and Sefi Atta: Selected Plays (2019).
Atta’s novels and short stories have received several awards, as have her radio plays. Her stage plays have been published and performed internationally. In 2019 her screenplay “Valid” was a finalist for the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab and the American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition. Atta co-wrote a forthcoming Netflix original movie adaptation of her novel Swallow, directed by Kunle Afolayan, and her next novel, The Bad Immigrant, will be published in November 2021.
For rights to Ikoyi Girl, please contact Sefi at sefiatta@yahoo.com
