A. Igoni Barrett
| A. Igoni Barrett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
March 26, 1979 Port Harcourt, Nigeria |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Nigeria |
| Genre | Short Stories |
| Notable awards | Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship |
Adrian Igonibo Barrett (born 26 March 1979) is a Nigerian writer.
Career
He was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to a Nigerian mother and the Jamaican novelist and poet Lindsay Barrett.[1]
Igoni Barrett was a winner of the BBC World Service short story competition for 2005 with a story entitled "The Phoenix", which was broadcast on 2 January 2006.[2][3] His first book, a collection of short stories entitled From Caves of Rotten Teeth, was first published in 2005 and reissued in 2008.
Invited as a participant to various literary festivals, Barrett was a guest reader on the opening night of the PEN World Voices Festival in 2013.[4] He was the founding organizer of the BookJam reading series[5] in Lagos, Nigeria, which featured the writers Jude Dibia, Michela Wrong, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Binyavanga Wainaina, Helon Habila and Tsitsi Dangarembga, among others.
Igoni Barrett was awarded a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship in 2010. In 2011, he was awarded a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship[6] as well as a Bellagio Center Residency.[7]
His second collection of stories Love Is Power, or Something Like That was published in 2013;[8] according to the Boston Globe, the collection "pulses with an indomitable life force that is, by turns, tender and fierce".[9] Time Out New York commented: "These rich pieces are also brilliantly sequenced.... Shifts in mood happen throughout the book.... Unlikely moments of empathy occur again and again amid wrenching drama and subtle comedy; the resulting collection satisfies on numerous levels."[10] Love is Power, or Something Like That was chosen as a "best book of 2013" by NPR[11] and Flavorwire.[12]
In April 2014 Igoni Barrett was named as one of 39 sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40[13] in the Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club Africa39 project celebrating Port Harcourt UNESCO World Book Capital 2014.[14]
Works
- From Caves of Rotten Teeth: A Collection of Short Stories, Daylight Media Services, 2005, ISBN 9789780193591
- Blackass Chatto & Windus. 2015. ISBN 9780701188566.[15]
- Love Is Power, Or Something Like That: Stories, Graywolf Press, 2013, ISBN 9781555976408
References
- ↑ "Nigerian Author Fights Brain Drain", Jamaica Gleaner, 22 May 2011.
- ↑ "Short Story Competition Winners 2005". BBC WorldService.com.
- ↑ "The Phoenix", BBC World Service.
- ↑ "PEN World Voices Festival to Focus on Art and Politics", The New York Times, 19 February 2013.
- ↑ "Nigeria: Nurturing Future Writers". AllAfrica.com.
- ↑ "2011 Sponsored Fellowships awarded to…". The Norman Mailer Center Newsfeed.
- ↑ "Adrian Igonibo Barrett". The Rockefeller Foundation.org.
- ↑ "Chatto Acquire Talented Young Nigerian Author A. Igoni Barrett", booktrade.info, 12 March 2012.
- ↑ Review by Jan Gardner, Boston Globe, 17 May 2013.
- ↑ Tobias Carroll, "Book review: Love Is Power, or Something Like That: Stories by A. Igoni Barrett", Time Out New York, 29 May 2013.
- ↑ Recommended by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, Best Books of 2013: NPR.
- ↑ "The 10 Best Short Story Collections of 2013", Flavorwire.com, 10 December 2013.
- ↑ List of artists, Africa39.
- ↑ Port Harcourt UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 website.
- ↑ Barrett, A. Igoni (2015). Blackass. London: Chatto & Winds. ISBN 9780701188566.
External links
- Ted Hodgkinson, "Interview: A. Igoni Barrett", Granta, 26 June 2013.
- Adebiyi Olusolape, "The Joy of Discovery with A. Igoni Barrett" (interview), Saraba, 1 May 2013..
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