Chinelo Okparanta – författare

"e;Disarmingly funny."e; - The New York TimesFrom the award-winning author of Under the Udala Trees and Happiness, Like Water comes a brilliant, provocative, up-to-the-minute satirical novel about a young white mans education and miseducation in contemporary America.Harry Sylvester Bird grows up in Edward, Pennsylvania, with his parents, Wayne and Chevy, whom he greatly dislikes. Theyre racist, xenophobic, financially incompetent, and they have quite a few secrets of their own. To Harry, they represent everything wrong with this country. And his small town isnt any better. He witnesses racial profiling, graffitied swastikas, and White Power signs on his walk home from school. He cant wait until hes old enough to leave. When he finally is, he moves straight to New York City, where he feels he can finally live out his true inner self.In the city, he meets and falls in love with Maryam, a young Nigerian woman. But when Maryam begins to pull away, Harry is forced to confront his identity as he never has beforeif he can.Brilliant, funny, original, and unflinching, Harry Sylvester Bird is a satire that speaks to all the most pressing tensions and anxieties of our timeand of the history that has shaped us and might continue to do so.

“If you’ve ever wondered if love can conquer all, read [this] stunning coming-of-age debut.” — Marie Claire A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice   Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * BuzzFeed * Bustle * Shelf Awareness * Publishers Lunch   “[This] love story has hypnotic power.”—The New Yorker   Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does. Born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. But when their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself—and there is a cost to living inside a lie. Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us, in “graceful and precise” prose (New York Times Book Review), how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed on the souls of its citizens. “Powerful and heartbreaking, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love” (BuzzFeed).  “An important and timely read, imbued with both political ferocity and mythic beauty.” — Bustle   “A real talent. [Under the Udala Trees is] the kind of book that should have come with a cold compress kit. It’s sad and sensual and full of heat.” — John Freeman, Electric Literature   “Demands not just to be read, but felt.” — Edwidge Danticat  

Inspired by her mothers stories of war and Nigerias folktale traditions, Under the Udala Trees is Chinelo Okparantasdeeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly

'Mesmerizing storytelling... Under the Udala Trees is breathtaking, rich with history and heart' Tayari Jones One day in 1968, at the height of the Biafran civil war, Ijeoma's father is killed and her world is transformed forever. Separated from her grief-stricken mother, she meets another young lost girl, Amina, and the two become inseparable. Theirs is a relationship that will shake the foundations of Ijeoma's faith, test her resolve and flood her heart. From Ijeoma's childhood in war-torn Biafra and through the perils and pleasures of her blossoming sexuality, Okparanta takes us on a journey through thwarted hopes and wrong turns and into the everyday joys and sorrows of marriage and motherhood. A triumphant love story, Under the Udala Tree is work of extraordinary beauty that will enrich your heart.'Under the Udala Trees [recalls] the work of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in its powerful interweaving of the personal and the political... The dizzying scope of her storytelling keeps you gripped' Financial Times