BUCHI EMECHETA

Buchi Emecheta, (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria) has established herself over the decades as one of the best female writers in the world, although of course she’s Nigerian-born with her works reflecting her roots and background.  As befits a writer of her iconic status, scores of full-length books and stunning studies have been published focusing on her literary work.

Emecheta is a proud Igbo writer whose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies.

Emecheta was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962. The problems she encountered in London during the early 1960s provided background for the books that are called her immigrant novels. 

Her first two books, In the Ditch (1972) and Second Class Citizen (1974)—both later included in the single volume Adah’s Story (1983)—introduce Emecheta’s three major themes: the quests for equal treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman. 

Somewhat different in style, Emecheta’s later novel, Gwendolen (1989; also published as The Family) also addresses the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain.

Most of Emecheta’s other novels—including The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982)—are realistic novels set in Africa that explore Emecheta’s favourite themes.

Perhaps her strongest work, The rape of Shavi (1983), is also the most difficult to categorize. Set in an imaginary idyllic African kingdom, it gives an account of the events that occur when European refugees from a nuclear disaster arrive.

Emecheta has also written an autobiography, Head Above Water (1986), and several works of children’s and juvenile fiction.

Novels

• In the Ditch.
• Second-Class Citizen
• The Bride Price.
• The Slave Girl
• The Joys of Motherhood.
• The Moonlight Bride.
• Our Own Freedom (photographs by Maggie Murray)
• Destination Biafra (London: Allison & Busby, 1982).
• Naira Power.
• Adah's Story [In the Ditch/Second-Class Citizen] (London: Allison & Busby, 1983).
• The Rape of Shavi.
• Double Yoke.
• A Kind of Marriage
• Gwendolen
• Kehinde (Heinemann, African Writers Series, 1994).
• The New Tribe (Heinemann, African Writers Series, 1999).

Autobiography

• Head Above Water (London: Fontana, 1986).

Children’s/Young Adults

• Titch the Cat
• Nowhere to Play.
• The Wrestling Match

Studies:

Reading Buchi Emecheta : cross-cultural conversations by Katherine Fishburn

Emerging perspectives on Buchi Emecheta

Writing across cultures : gender politics and difference in the fiction of Buchi Emecheta by Omar Sougou

Two voices from Nigeria : Nigeria through the literature of Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta by Lyn Reese

Buchi Emecheta's "London novels" : an intercultural approach by Susanne Pichler

Beyond feminism : gender perspectives on Buchi Emecheta by Neerja Chand

Women and social realism in the novels of Buchi Emecheta by Marie Umeh 

Social theory and literary sources in the novels of Buchi Emecheta by Betty B Levitov