Toni Kan’s critically acclaimed and award-winning short story collection, Nights of the Creaking Bed, which only just made a UK debut, is set for launch in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday, June 29, 2019.
Cassava Republic Press, which earlier announced the release of the UK edition of the book said the author will be reading from the book in what will serve as the Lagos launch of the 10-year-old collection.
The event will take place at the first floor of Ibilola Nelson House, 82 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. Time is 3pm to 6pm.
The book, which hit stores on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in the UK, is the first book to be released under the company’s new imprint, Cassava Shorts. First published in 2009, the UK edition features new stories and a brand new cover that appropriates the yellow of Lagos danfos.
Winner of the Saro Wiwa/NDDC Prose Prize in 2009, Nights of the Creaking Bed has received praise from home and abroad. Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street, NLNG prize winner and Booker Prize International Judge, describes the books as “a brash and vibrant collection that brims all at once with sadness and humor; suffering and compassion; longing and loss. Toni Kan is an astute observer of human nature, and writes convincingly about the ineluctable grasp of poverty and culture on his characters.”
Zukiswa Wanner, Zambian-born, Kenyan-based author of London, Cape Town, Joburg has said that “in Nights of the Creaking Bed, Toni Kan holds a mirror to humanity’s ability to love tenderly one minute and destroy cruelly in the next, thus capturing with style the complexity and unpredictability of not just his characters but ourselves. A necessary addition to the library of any discerning reader.”
For Michael Sears, one half of the Michael Stanley tag team, the collection’s
“Lyrical prose and harsh insights make each story a sweet and sour treat.” Sefi Atta, author of Every Thing Good Will Come and Caine Prize judge, says “beginning with deliberate brevity and ending on a note of lush lyricism, these fascinating vignettes of Lagos life showcase an array of peripatetic characters who are hopelessly stuck in their dilemmas.”
Expressing his delight in a series of social media posts, the author hailed by fans as Mayor of Lagos, wrote: “New look. New Imprint. New stories! The UK edition of my award-winning short story collection, Nights of the Creaking Bed, hits the shelves from today. This news makes me happy on several levels. Nights… was published 10 years ago, but it has never gone out of print, and has been used by over 30 people I know for their theses or dissertations.
“Secondly, it was my first properly published book with a proper publisher, contract and royalties. But, above all, it is the first book to be issued under Cassava Republic’s new imprint; Cassava Shorts. Every writer wants to publish a work that endures and defines him, It is early days yet but Nights remains a gift that keeps giving.”