Nigerian story garnering global acclaim

By Osa Mbonu-Amadi and Benjamin Njoku

Nigerian writers, like their counterparts in the music industry, are currently taking front row on the global literary scene, pushing boundaries and expanding the frontiers of what the country’s storytelling prowess can depict.

From the time of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elnathan John, Helon Habila, Nnedi Okorafor, among other emerging voices, the country’s literary filament has flourished more than ever. On the global scene, Nigerian  young writers are adding their voices with literary masterpieces that have graced sights and nourished minds.

Samuel Kolawole

One of the names that comes to mind is Samuel Kolawole, the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel “The Road to the Salt Sea”, which received the 2025 Whiting Award for fiction in New York in April. The award was in recognition of emerging writers for their “excellence and creativity”, and Kolawole’s “The Road to the Salt Sea” earned him a spot in the fiction category alongside other standout talents who were awarded $50,000 each to support their craft. The work was also a finalist for the International Book Awards, longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize, and is currently longlisted for the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel.

Born and raised in Ibadan, Kolawole teaches fiction writing full-time as an Assistant Professor of English and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University.

Kolawole says he explores social and political issues in all their forms. “I rarely write about topics on which I do not have strong views even though my work is not didactic. I was promoting my book, The Road to the Salt Sea, which was published this summer, when the shortlist was announced. Like ‘Adjustment of Status’, my novel delves into themes surrounding the migrant experience, not the African immigrant experience, but the trans-Saharan migrant crisis. I would say I am more interested in stories about our continent, set in Africa.

“In addition to being a writer, I am a professor of creative writing and teach fiction. I get to read things I wouldn’t normally read for pleasure and learn from my students when I teach writing. This is quite valuable for my writing,” Kolawole said.

Chigozie Obioma

Another great writer of this generation, Chigozie Obioma, is the Helen S. Lanier Professor of Creative Writing and English at the University of Georgia and the program director of the Oxbelly Fiction Writers retreat. He currently shuttles between the US and Nigeria. His works are masterpieces and have earned him accolades on the international literary scene. His novels, “The Fishermen” (2015) and “An Orchestra of Minorities” (2019), were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. He is also the author of “The Road to the Country” (2024), released earlier this year. His novels have reportedly been translated into more than 29 languages. They have also won awards including the inaugural FT/Oppenheimer Award for Fiction, the NAACP Image Award, the Internationaler Literaturpreis, and the LA Times Book Prize, among others. “The Fishermen” was adapted into an award-winning stage play by Gbolahan Obisesan that played in the UK and South Africa between 2018-2019. Obioma was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2015. Fondly called the new Chinua Achebe, Obioma was nominated as one of the Most Influential Africans in 2024, and his pen as an emerging writer is even mightier.

“The first thing that drives my interest in fiction is what I term as the sort of psychological and emotional evolution in people,” Obioma says. “So, I like to create a character or set of characters who start from one end of the psychological spectrum and then put them in situations where they change.”

Obioma’s work often delves into profound themes, making his stories resonate deeply with readers. He’s praised in the diaspora for the significant impact his writing has on addressing the complexities of love and conflict in today’s world.

Lesley Nneka Arimah

Lesley Nneka Arimah, born in London in 1983, grew up in Nigeria and other countries due to her father’s military service before moving to the United States in her early teens. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, in 2010. Arimah is celebrated for her skillful storytelling and has garnered several accolades, including the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa, the 2017, Henry Prize, the 2017 Kirkus Prize, and the 2019 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story “Skinned.”

Her debut collection, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, won the 2017 Kirkus Prize and the 2018 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Her writing often focuses on women’s experiences and explores themes of bodily autonomy and social dynamics. Arimah lives in Minneapolis and continues to contribute significantly to contemporary literature.

These award-winning Nigerian artists in the Diaspora have established themselves with distinctive artistic voices and prestigious accolades, enriching global arts and literature from a Nigerian cultural perspective.

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