This edition marks the 50th anniversary of Efuru, the first novel by Nigeria's Flora Nwapa. Originally published by Heinemann in London in 1966. Efuru is the first novel by a female African author published internationally. It has presented the first narration of an African village woman's life and plight from an insider's female perspective. Efuru introduces an important feminist issue to Africa, contextualized in the cultural setting of Nwapa's own Igbo home-town, Oguta: a woman is more ...

The Lake Goddess came to be Flora Nwapa's last novel, yet possibly her most important one, as it restores African culture and spirituality. "Nwapa's message is clear: she-Ona/Ogbuide/woman-may have many children, but she also independently succeeds in her own life, and she is a source of healing and inspiration to all human beings suffering from the ills and madness of modern society worldwide. The goddess whom Nwapa invoked finally reemerges in her original glory in The Lake Goddess to br...

Women are Different is the moving story of a group of Nigerian women, from their schooldays together through the trials and tribulations of their adult lives. Through their stories we see some of the universal problems faced by women everywhere: the struggle for financial independence and a rewarding career, combined with the need to bring up a family, often without a man. All this is set against the background of a developing Nigeria, from colonial times, through the Nigerian Civil War to...

This dazzling collection of short stories deals with some of the universal problems shared by women around the world. "The heroines of Ms. Nwapa's books are strong-minded women who have economic independence and yet, suffer at the hands of unfaithful and unreliable men. Her skill is in presenting her women as individuals and dealing with their special burdens". Alison Perry, West Africa Magazine.

Pioneering author Flora Nwapa paints the stirring tale of a young wife attempting to carve out her own independence against the traditional beliefs of Igbo society.Ever since she was young, Efuru has been famed for her beauty, intelligence, and noble lineage. So her family is appalled when they uncover her betrothal to an unremarkable villager. Although generous in her devotion to him, Efuru soon begins to realise that love is weak in comparison to centuries of sup...

Written by Flora Nwapa after the Nigerian Civil War, "Never Again looks at her society at a time of war and she concentrates on the importance of Biafran women in sustaining their fighting men and the society in general. She depicts the extreme demands war makes on people and the book is all about survival on a personal and national level. As a novelist, critics have mainly acclaimed Ms. Nwapa for her forthrightness and honesty, whether it be dealing with the conflict between the sexes or ...

Efuru é o nome da protagonista que dá título à obra. A história da personagem demonstra os dilemas desta diante do casamento e da maternidade, pilares do papel social da mulher igbo na comunidade igbo tradicional de então. Como Efuru negocia este papel e, para isso, mobiliza a cosmogonia de seu povo, é o que o leitor irá encontrar nas páginas dessa obra. Essa cosmogonia, ou seja, o modo como se percebe o mundo, a criação e a relação entre o homem e o universo que o cerca, reserva um lugar ...

From Flora Nwapa comes another collection of absorbing short stories centered around women. Common to all stories is the involvement of women in all kinds of wars. First, we see the variety of experiences different kinds of women underwent in the Nigerian civil war. We see the militant leaders of Biafra's women's organizations waging war against the bureaucracy which denied them an opportunity to represent their country abroad. We also see women who hate the war, are indifferent to the pol...

This is the powerful and compelling story of a woman's struggle to find an independent and fulfilling life on her own. After six years of happy, though childless, marriage, Amaka, at thirty, is shattered to discover that her husband plans to take another wife-- a woman who has already borne him two sons in secret. She makes a brave decision. Rather than stay in the comfort and security of her marital home, she will go to lagos and try to make a fresh start in life. In order to become a suc...

Amaka não consegue ter filhos. Este é o ponto de partida do quarto romance de Flora Nwapa, publicado originalmente em 1981. Basta um conta a história da protagonista Amaka em busca de uma vida independente, financeira e amorosamente. Amaka é uma mulher que procura viver o amor e sobretudo a maternidade segundo as suas próprias intenções e desejos. O livro explora uma temática de envergadura para a escrita de Nwapa: a de contar a mulher africana considerada não convencional, tendo a oralida...

This section looks into the realistic and fictional experiences in the selected texts of the black women writers Buchi Emecheta and Flora Nwapa, the major themes in the selected literary texts, the status accorded to women in the pre-colonial, colonial and in the post-colonial Africa, and the impact of racism and slavery faced by the blacks in Africa. The selected texts represent the experiences and developing identities of Nigerian women. These texts present a different world with quite d...