Books by Chigozie Obioma

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 MAN BOOKER PRIZEIn this dazzling debut novel, four young brothers in a small Nigerian town encounter a madman, whose prophecy of violence threatens the core of their familyTold from the point of view of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria. When their father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the forbidden nearby river they encounter a madman, who predicts that one of the brothers will kill another. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact - both tragic and redemptive - will transcend the lives and imaginations of both its characters and its readers. Chigozie Obioma emerges as one of the best new voices of modern African literature, echoing its older generation's masterful storytelling with a contemporary fearlessness and purpose.'Obioma's beautiful, quasi-biblical allegory-like debut... is set to be one of the novels of the year' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times'A startling debut... auspicious... leaps off the pages' Mariella Frostrup, Open Book'A striking, controlled and masterfully taut debut... The tale has a timeless quality that renders it almost allegorical and it is the more powerful for it' FT'It's like being in a Zola or Theodore Dreiser novel... The Fishermen is an elegy to lost promise... and yet it remains hopeful about the redemptive possibilities of a new generation' Guardian'Awesome in the true sense of the word... a truly magnificent debut' Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries'Suffused with an air of legend and the supernatural... The Fishermen establishes Obioma as a writer to be taken seriously... ingenious, subtle, ambitious and intriguing' TLS'Terrific' Irish Examiner'Full of deceptive simplicity, lyrical language and playful Igbo mythology and humour... an impressive and beautifully imagined work' Economist'A novel with an intimate canvas but also an undercurrent of something larger, more primal' We Love This Book'A debut that is packed with power and tragedy' Shortlist'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe' The New York Times'Mr Obioma's long-limbed and elegant writing is shot through with strikingly elevated phrasings... its lessons may be slippery, but its power is unmistakable' Wall Street Journal'The most frustrating thing about The Fishermen is that the author has no other books for the reader to devour once the final page is reached' Chicago Tribune'Searing, incandescent' Harvard Crimson'Succeeds as a convincing modern narrative and as a majestic reimagining of timeless folklore' Publisher's Weekly, Starred review'A powerful, haunting tale of grief, healing, and sibling loyalty' Kirkus'Darkly mythic... a kind of African Cormac McCarthy' USA Today'[A] confident debut novel... frank and lyrical' New Yorker

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019, a heart-wrenching epic about the tension between fate and free will.

Chinonso, en ung fjerkræavler, forelsker sig i en kvinde, Ndali, som han en aften redder fra selvmord på en af broerne over byens flod. Hun er fra en velstående familie. Han er i deres øjne fattig og udannet. Han sælger derfor alt, hvad han ejer, for at købe sig vej til et universitet på Cypern. Men da han når frem, opdager han, at ikke alle spiller et ærligt spil i den store industri med at skaffe mennesker vej til et bedre liv. Og der bliver længere og længere tilbage til hans elskede Ndali og hans hjemby. Den Man Booker shortlistede Chigozie Obioma har skrevet et hjertegribende drama om kærlighed og den lemfældige omgang med menneskeskæbner i immigrationsstrømmen fra Afrika mod Europa - med undertoner af Homers Odyssé og afrikansk mytologi.

Four brothers from a quiet middle-class family in Nigeria take advantage of their father's extended absence to skip school and go fishing at a forbidden river. There they encounter a vision-seeing madman whose prophecy of violence will follow the boys through their lives.

Da Benjamin og hans brødres far tager nordpå for at arbejde, forandres drengenes liv for altid. Farens strenge orden opløses, og drengene strejfer nu omkring og går på opdagelse. I stedet for at passe deres skole begynder de at fiske i byens flod, som engang var et livgivende sted, men nu er forbudt, uren og livsfarlig. Ved floden møder de en dag den gale mand, Abulu, som i et syn forudser, at den ældste af dem, Ikenna, vil blive myrdet af sine brødre. Profetien forgifter fra da af Ikennas liv, og familien hvirvles ind i et mareridt af konflikter og smerte, der udfordrer deres tætte bånd. ‘Vi var fiskere’ er en roman om en uforglemmelig barndom i 1990’ernes Nigeria, og en historie om rivalisering og broderkærlighed, mytisk og universel. Set gennem familiens skæbne er romanen også en fortælling om Afrika og dets voldsomme politiske, økonomiske og religiøse modsætninger iblandet kontinentets episke skønhed. Shortlistet til The Man Booker Prize 2015.