Wednesday 21 November 2018

ZAYNAB ALKALI (Nigeria)





Zaynab Alkali is a pioneer in her own way, in her own right - like a handful of other extraordinary African female writers.  Her compatriots, Zulu Sofola - the first Nigerian woman to publish quality plays; and Flora Nwapa (the first Nigerian woman to publish novels) made history.... just like in South Africa, Miriam Tlali was the first black woman to write and publish a novel. 

On her own part, Zaynab Alkali is acknowledged as the first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria, and a literary academic to boot. Over the years, she has made a name for herself as novelist, poet, short story writer, and editor.

Alkali was born in Tura-Wazila in Borno State in 1950. She graduated from Bayero University Kano with a BA in 1973. She obtained a doctorate in African Studies in the same university and became the principal of a girls' school - Sakera Girls' Boarding School.



She went on to become a polished academic, a lecturer and writer of note. Markedly, she rose to become a dean in the Faculty of arts at Nasarawa State University in Keffi where she taught creative writing. And she began publishing her work since over 30 years ago.

Over the years, readers and pundits have been pleasantly surprised by the freshness and variety of her writings. Those who expected docile female protagonists are confronted with the literary vibrancy and competence of the author. 

Indeed, Alkali's characters can be feisty (eg Li, in The Stillborn), well rounded, ambitious, probing - no wonder "feminists" are very much interested in  the disparate strands of Zaynab Alkali's writings.

Selected Works


The Stillborn

The Virtuous Woman

Cobwebs & Other Stories

The Descendants

The Initiates

Zaynab Alkali, Al Imfeld (eds), Vultures in the Air: Voices from
Northern Nigeria