NIGERIAN LITERATURE

SEBASTIAN, GLADYS C.
 NIGERIAN
LITERATURE?
• Nigerian literature is the literature of Nigeria which
is written by Nigerians, for Nigerians and addresses
Nigerian issues. It is written in English, Igbo,
Urhobo, Yoruba, Hausa, and the other languages of
the country. The languages used by authors in
Nigeria are based in part on geography, with authors
in the northern part of the country writing in Hausa.
ORIGIN OF NIGERIAN
LITERATURE
 The written tradition was
introduced to Northern Nigeria in
the 15th century by Arab scholars
and traders.
 The works of these pioneers marked
a literary landmark, which came to
its height in the nineteenth
century when the Islamic Jihadist,
Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, wrote
hundreds of poems in Arabic,
Fulfulde and Hausa.
 FOUR MAIN PERIODS

The fourteen Kingdoms Period

(10th-19th century)
 Sokoto period(19th-20th century)
Colonial Period (20th century)
Post Independence period (20th
century to present).
 The Fourteen
Kingdoms
• This period had many
authors who produced books
that dealt with theology,
history, biography, maths,
language,writing,
documentaries,geography,
astronomy, diplomacy and
poetry.
• The Sokoto Caliphate in Northern Nigeria was one
of the largest empires in Africa during the 19th
century. The empire developed as a result of the
Fulani jihads (holy wars) which took place in the
first decade of the 19th century across what is
now Northern Nigeria. The Sokoto Caliphate was
the center of politics and economics in the region
until it fell to French and British colonial armies in
the early 20th Century.
In the colonial period,
Africans exposed to Western
languages began to write in
those tongues.
 Post-independence
•Critically examines post-
independence Nigerian literary
writers' engagement with the
issue of misgovernance in their
country.
TOP 10 NOTABLE WRITERS
CHINUA ACHEBE

• FATHER OF NIGERIAN LITERATURE

• “THINGS FALL APART”
WOLE SOYINKA

• Playwright, poet and writer won the Nobel Prize in

Literature in 1986
• The Years of Childhood and Death and the King’s
Horseman. 
• You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir is
Soyinka’s own look at his life, experiences, and
thoughts about Africa and Nigeria.
 FEMI OSOFISAN
• A writer noted for his critique of
societal problems and his use of African
traditional performances and surrealism
in some of his novels.
• Kolera Kolej (1975)
• Women of Owu (2004)
Kolera Kolej (1975) tells the story of a
Nigerian University campus that is granted
independence from the rest of the country in
order to halt the spread of a Cholera
outbreak.
 Women of Owu (2004) is a retelling of
Euripides’ The Trojan Women. Osofisan
translates the play to the Ijebe and Ife war
that devastated the Owu Kingdom in 1821-
26.
 BEN OKRI
 Nigerian poet and novelist. Okri is considered one of the
foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-
colonial traditions
The author also rejects claims that his work falls into the
‘magical realism’ category.
“ The Famished Road (1991)”
Forming part of a trilogy with Songs of Enchantment
and Infinite Riches. It chronicle the journeys of
Azaro, a spirit-child narrator.
 BUCHI EMECHETA
• Nigerian-born novelist, based in the UK from
1962, who also wrote plays and an
autobiography, as well as works for children.
• “The Joys of Motherhood (1979)”
The Joys of Motherhood (1979)
has as its protagonist a woman
who defines herself through
motherhood and validates her
life solely through the successes
of her children
 SEFI ATTA
Everything Good Will Come (2005)
Atta is widely known for her radio plays, which
have been broadcast on the BBC, and her short
stories, that have appeared in a number of
journals including the Los Angeles Review of Books.
HELON HABILA

 Stories Editor for Hints magazine

 ”Waiting for an Angel” (The book won the
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the African
region, spurring the author to greater success)
His two subsequent novels: 
Measuring Time (2007)
 Oil on Water (2011)
ADAOBI TRICIA NWAUBANI

• Novelist, journalist and essayist

(As a journalist, she has contributed to the
New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian and
CNN, among others)
• I Do Not Come to You By Chance (2010)
 CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

• Nigerian writer whose

works range from novels
to short stories to
nonfiction
• Purple Hibiscus (2003)
• Americanah (2013)
COLONIALISM
LIBERATION
NATIONALISM
TRADITION
DISPLACEMENT AND
ROOTLESSNESS IN AFRICAN
LITERATURE
 MASTERPIECES
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
 MASTERPIECES
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi
Tricia Nwaubani
THANK YOU