Louisa Onome – författare

A Nigerian Canadian teen navigates family pressure, a complicated love life, and the search for her own happiness in this heartfelt YA novel.Seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi''s life revolves around duty: to school, the debate team, and her Nigerian parents. She''s even helping her cousin Genny prepare for her wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy. Ever since her older brother, Sam, disappeared a few years ago after a fight with their parents, Adanna has felt pressure to fill the void he left behind. She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.But when chance brings the siblings together again, they start reconnecting and Adanna learns more about Sam''s new life as a poet. Working to repair their bond, she begins to wonder if her own happiness is just as important as meeting others'' expectations. As the Nigerian wedding-to-end-all-weddings approaches and anxiety over the debate competition mounts, Adanna must navigate parental pressure and a complicated love life to discover what truly matters to her.Set in Canada and brimming with Nigerian culture, Twice As Perfect is a heartwarming story of family, first love, and finding your own path amidst the demands of duty and tradition.

After her parents go on the run, a teenage girl placed in the care of a cousin she barely knows learns to trust and open up in The Melancholy of Summer, a lyrical YA contemporary coming-of-age story by Louisa OnoméDoesn’t she see? I can do this on my own.Summer Uzoma is fine. Sure, her parents went on the run after they were accused of committing a crime, leaving her behind. Sure, she’s been alternating stays with her friends’ families. Sure, she sometimes still secretly visits her old home. And sure, she has trouble talking about any of this. But she’s fine. She has her skateboard and her bus pass. She just has to turn eighteen in a few weeks and then she’ll really and truly be free.So it’s extra annoying when a nosy social worker gets involved. Summer doesn’t expect any relative to be able to take her in, so she’s very surprised to hear that she’ll now be living with her cousin Olu—someone she hasn’t seen in years, who’s a famous singer in Japan last she heard, and who’s not much older than Summer.Life with Olu is awkward for many reasons—not least of all because Olu has her own drama to deal with. But with her cousin and friends’ efforts, maybe Summer can learn to trust people enough to let them in again?

A Young Adult novel by Louisa Onomé, Twice As Perfect follows a Nigerian Canadian girl dealing with an estranged older brother, helping her cousin plan a big Nigerian wedding, and pressure from her parents about her future.She thinks the only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin Genny as Adanna helps prepare Genny’s wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody had to fill the void he left behind. Adanna may never understand what caused Sam to leave home, but the one thing she knows is that it’s on her to make sure her parents’ sacrifices aren’t in vain.One day, chance brings the siblings together again and they start working to repair their bond. Although she fears how their parents will react if they find out, Adanna’s determined to get answers about the night Sam left—Sam, who was supposed to be an engineer but is now, what, a poet? The more she learns about Sam’s poetry, the more Adanna begins to wonder if maybe her own happiness is just as important as doing what’s expected of her. Amid parental pressure, anxiety over the debate competition, a complicated love life, and the Nigerian wedding-to-end-all-weddings, can Adanna learn, just this once, to put herself first? A Macmillan Audio production from Feiwel & Friends.