RIP Cyprian Ekwensi
There's been suprisingly little coverage of Cyprian Ekwensi's death earlier this month. One has to turn to the blogosphere to find out more. See here, here, here and here for more. As with other African Writer's Series classic authors, it is a tragedy his books (such as his great Biafra chronicle Divided We Stand) are not widely available in Nigeria any more...
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"The Passport of Mallam Illia" That was a magical, scary book for me growing up. I just re-read my dog-eared copy recently after many decades and it still had the same impact.
RIP Cyprian, your writing reached across cultures and opened up new vistas for a little dreamer.
Thanks so much for the memorial. I’m not surprised at all that it was merely glanced over by Nigerians. I’ve long accepted that our Nigerian writers are celebrated more abroad than at home. Cyprian Ekenswi’s ‘The passport of Malam Ilia’ was one of the first literature books I read and almost 20 yrs later I vividly remember the book and even the illustrations in it! How can one forget ‘The Drummer Boy’, ‘Jagua Nana’ or ‘Jagua Nana’s Daughter’? Yes, he’ll be remembered, maybe not by all but certainly by all those that read his captivating books that are printed forever in our memories.
He really deserves so much more from Nigeria and Nigerians.
"The Passport of Mallam Illia" was a great book. Thinking about it makes me want to read it again
"There's been suprisingly little coverage of Cyprian Ekwensi's death"
This is not true. Barely a day passes without one major story on EKwensi's death or the other! Today alone, there's something in Vanguard and another in Business Day! Same thing happened with the claim that none of the papers published full text of the Idoko Report ... easy, naijablog, easy..!
Thanks for honoring Cyprian Ekwensi. I loved his Jagua Nana series. That was my foray into more grown up reading. May his soul rest in peace.
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