Chris Abani Muses on Humanity
February 28, 2010
“The only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me” - Ubuntu.
” Did you know that before the genocide in Rwanda, the word for rape and the word for marriage were the same ?” - Chris Abani.
WASHINGTON DC - Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity.
About Chris Abani:
Chris Abani’s first novel, published when he was 16, was Masters of the Board, a political thriller about a foiled Nigerian coup. The story was convincing enough that the Nigerian government threw him in jail for inciting a coincidentally timed real-life coup. Imprisoned and tortured twice more, he channeled the experience into searing poetry.
Abani’s best-selling 2004 novel GraceLand is a searing and funny tale of a young Nigerian boy, an Elvis impersonator who moves through the wide, wild world of Lagos, slipping between pop and traditional cultures, art and crime. It’s a perennial book-club pick, a story that brings the postcolonial African experience to vivid life.
Now based in Los Angeles, Abani published The Virgin of Flames in 2007. He is also a publisher, running the poetry imprint Black Goat Press.
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