POPULARITY
Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language and ideas. Her novel, Butterfly Fish, and short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, have won and been nominated for multiple awards. Her journalism has been featured in The New York Times, the Observer, the Guardian and the Huffington Post. She has also judged various literary prizes including the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Gordon Burn Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award. She was a judge for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, she was awarded an MBE For Services to Literature in 2021. She is the director and founder of Black to the Future festival. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel Curandera. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
RADIO ROMANCE by Garrison Keillor, chosen by Sarah Phelps PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi, chosen by Irenosen Okojie ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER by Rose Tremain, chosen by Harriett GilbertTwo authors pick books they love with Harriett Gilbert.Screenwriter, playwright and television producer Sarah Phelps (The Sixth Commandment, A Very British Scandal, EastEnders) brings us the trials and tribulations of a small-town radio station in the Midwest. Told with humour and irony, but also packs a punch.Novelist and short story writer Irenosen Okojie (Hag, Butterfly Fish, Speak Gigantular) chooses Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, an autobiographical graphic novel charting the writer's childhood in Iran, set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution, before her move to Austria.Harriett Gilbert brings Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain, a story about the all-consuming power of first love, set 1960s London.Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio Bristol Join the conversation on Instagram @bbcagoodread
Irenosen Okojie is the Nigerian-British author of Butterfly Fish and the short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch. She co-presented the BBC's Turn Up for The Books podcast, she's vice chair of the Royal Society of Literature and was a judge for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. The plaque she chose is on Lands Lane in Leeds and reads: "Pablo Fanque. Born William Darby, he was the first Black circus owner in Britain. He regularly performed in Leeds. On 18th March 1848, near to this location in King Charles' Croft, his circus building collapsed causing the death of his wife Susannah. Both are now buried in the Leeds General Cemetery. 1810-1871". We spoke about the cultural power of the circus during the 19th century, Fanque's entry into the circus and equestrian talent and how and why he appeared in a Beatles song lyric. The Blue Plaque Pod is brought to you by Kassia St. Clair, author, cultural historian and commemorative plaque fancier. I would love to know what you think, whether you have a favourite plaque, or if there's someone you think would make a great guest. Get in touch at blueplaquepod.com.
Join Vick Hope as she sits down with writer Irenosen Okojie to discuss wild imaginations and magical realism in literature and if imposter syndrome comes into play when you're a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Irenosen's intoxicating debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won the 2016 Betty Trask Award, and her highly acclaimed short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch have both been nominated for countless awards and received praise from Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood to name just a couple. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE For Services To Literature. Irenosen is also a judge for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, and has previously judged the Women's Prize Discoveries programme for new writers. Irenosen's book choices are: ** Jazz by Toni Morrison ** Black Vodka by Deborah Levy ** At the Bottom of The River by Jamaica Kincaid ** I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell ** The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season six of the Women's Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women's Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don't want to miss the rest of Season Six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.
Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie and host Miriam Robinson discuss what would have happened if, in her early 20s, Irenosen had accepted a job as an editorial assistant at a magazine in New York. Along the way they discuss why mentors matter, the importance of embracing mess and why everything good starts with a fabulous lunch.Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian-British author. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE For Services To Literature, and she is an RSL Fellow. Her debut novel Butterfly Fish won a 2016 Betty Trask Award. Her short story collection Speak Gigantular, was published was shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Prize and the 2017 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Nudibranch, her collection of short stories, was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2020, and its story ‘Grace Jones' won the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. Make sure to subscribe to hear the rest of Season 1 – in each episode, Miriam interviews a guest about a path their life might have taken and together, step by step, they write the stories of their unlived lives.Produced by Tess Davidson.#MyUnlivedLife Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On April 20, 2021, we held a virtual reading and conversation with Irenosen Okojie, winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. Moderated by Prof. Lahra Smith, Director of African Studies Program.Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian-British writer. She is the winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize For Fiction for her story, “Grace Jones.” Her debut novel Butterfly Fish won a Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for an Edinburgh International First Book Award. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Observer, the Guardian, the BBC and the Huffington Post amongst other publications. Her short stories have appeared internationally in publications including Salt's Best British Short Stories 2017, Kwani? and The Year's Best Weird Fiction. She was named at the London Short Story Festival by Booker Prize winning author Ben Okri OBE as a dynamic writing talent to watch and featured in the Evening Standard Magazine as one of London's exciting new authors. Her short story collection Speak Gigantular, published by Jacaranda Books was shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her collection of stories Nudibranch which includes her AKO Caine Prize winning “Grace Jones” is published by Dialogue Books.Lahra Smith is Director of the African Studies Program at Georgetown University. Smith is a Political Scientist with a particular interest in African politics, migration and refugees, and citizenship and equality. Her book, Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. She teaches courses on migration, women and politics and theory and policy in Africa. Music: Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.
Do you have the courage to try again?In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes chats to Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish; Speak Gigantular, Nudibranch and contributor to the short story collection Hag, about the wonder and power of short stories, finding joy in activism and literary legend Toni Morrison. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian-British writer. Her debut novel Butterfly Fish won a Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for an Edinburgh International First Book Award. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Observer, the Guardian, the BBC and the Huffington Post amongst other publications. Her short stories have appeared internationally in publications including Salt's Best British Short Stories 2017, Kwani? and The Year's Best Weird Fiction. She was named at the London Short Story Festival by Booker Prize winning author Ben Okri OBE as a dynamic writing talent to watch and featured in the Evening Standard Magazine as one of London’s exciting new authors. Her short story collection Speak Gigantular, published by Jacaranda Books was shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her collection of stories Nudibranch which includes her AKO Caine Prize winning ‘Grace Jones’ is published by Dialogue Books.
The writing life of two authors who should have been sharing a stage at the Bare Lit Festival. Irenosen Okojie and Nadifa Mohammed talk to Shahidha Bari in a conversation organised with the Royal Society of Literature. And 2020 New Generation Thinker Seren Griffiths describes a project to use music by composer at an archaeological site to mark the summer solstice and the findings of her dig. The Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohamed featured on Granta magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers under 40. Her first novel Black Mamba Boy won a Betty Trask Award. Her second novel The Orchard of Lost Souls won the Somerset Maugham Award and contributed poems to the collection edited by Margaret Busby in 2019 New Daughters of Africa. Irenosen Okojie's debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Edinburgh First Book Award. Her short story collection, Speak Gigantular was shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Her most recent book is called Nudibranch. You can find more information about the Bare Lit Festival http://barelitfestival.com/ and about the Royal Society of Literature https://rsliterature.org/ Irenosen is one of the voices talking about Buchi Emecheta in this programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r89gt Caine Prize 2019 winner Lesley Nneka Arimah is interviewed https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006mtb Caine Prize 2018 winner Makena Onjerika https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b89ssp Billy Kahora a Caine nominee https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tw6fg The music used by Seren Griffiths is by https://jonhughesmusic.com/ and you can find out about the dig https://bryncellidduarchaeology.wordpress.com/the-bryn-celli-ddu-rock-art-project/ and the minecraft https://mcphh.org/bryn-celli-ddu-minecraft-experience/ New Generation Thinkers is the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year to turn their research into radio. Producer: Robyn Read
Charles Dickens. Walt Disney. The Romantic poets..These renowned artists and entertainers were all accused of being “over-sentimental”. But is our own age topping them all – with its culture of grief memoirs, gushing obituaries and feel-good fiction? Three Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature join Rana Mitter at the Free Thinking Festival to take a hard look at whether contemporary culture has “gone soft”. Lisa Appignanesi is the author of books including Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love; Mad, Bad, and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors; All About Love: Anatomy of an Unruly Emotion and Trials of Passion: Crimes in the Name of Love and Madness. She is Chair of the Royal Society of Literature Council. Irenosen Okojie is author of a novel Butterfly Fish and a short story collection Speak Gigantular - surreal tales of love and loneliness. She has written for The New York Times, The Observer, and The Huffington Post and is currently running a writing workshop at London’s South Bank. Rachel Hewitt’s books include A Revolution of Feeling:The Decade that Forged the Modern Mind and Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Newcastle University, where she is also Deputy Director of the Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts. Producer: Zahid Warley
Welcome to our first episode of "Not Another Book Podcast". This week, BooksandRhymes, bookshy and Postcolonialchild discuss their overhyped books and underrated writers to look out for and Postcolonialchild drops the mic on Chinua Achebe and African literature.Key takeaways:Are some African writers being overhyped ?Overhype vs quality of writing?How literature festivals contribute to the hypeWho is behind the hype of some these overrated writers?The contribution of the school curriculum to hyping the western canons of literatureOverrated white writers that we are ready to say "Boy Bye" Overrated books:From Postcolonial ChildHomegoing by Yaa Gyasi: debut novel beginning in 18th century Ghana, and following the descendants of two half sisters until present day.Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue: debut novel following the lives of two very different families living and working in New York during the 28 financial crisis – one’s an immigrant family from Cameroon and the other a wealthy American family.From bookshyTwilight Series by Stephanie Myers: Bella. Vampires. Edward. More Vampires. The Cullens. Werwolves. Jacob. More Vampires. Vulturi.From BooksandRhymes:White Tears by Hari Kunzru: A trust fund hipster and a suburban nobody united by a love of music.Underrated books we recommended:From BooksandRhymes:What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah: strange and wonderful debut short story collection with stories centred on the lives of women and girls, parents and children, lovers and friends – all told with elements of the fantastical. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: debut YA fantasy in a world of magic and danger inspired by West Africa and the African Diaspora.From bookshyA Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar: fantasy fiction following the son of a merchant making his way for the first time to the distant land of Olondria.The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson: every time Molly bleeds, a new version of her is born. A horror novella with a twist.Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie: a weird and wonderful debut short story collection. There are tales of suicide and ghosts haunting the London underground; twin sisters, impersonation, and inner demons coming to life; deadly foot fetishes and more.From Postcolonial ChildPachinko by Min Jin Lee: an epic historical novel following characters from Korea who eventually migrate to Japan.Confessions of a Lioness by Mia Cuoto: a dark, poetic mystery about the women of Kulumani and the lionesses that hunt them - through two interwoven diaries.Other books mentioned in the episode - in order of appearance:Idu by Flora NwapaForeign Gods, Inc. by Okey NdibeLonely Londoners by Sam SelvonNo Place to Call Home by J J BolaSmall Island by Andrea Levy 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. JamesThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldWilliam Shakespeare – in generalOf Mice and Men by John SteinbeckWinged Histories by Sofia SamatarLondon, Cape Town Joburg by Zukiswa Wanner Reflecting Rogue: Inside the Mind of a Feminist by Pumla Dineo GqolaButterfly Fish by Irenosen OkojieTweet us @@NABookPodcast with the hashtag #NotAnotherBook your thoughts about our first episode, the books we mentioned and more importantly your wild reactions Postcolonialchild mic drop.Rate, Review and Subscribe to us on iTunes, Spotify, and Acast.
Linda Mannheim interviews author Irenosen Okojie about her short story collection Speak Gigantular, editor Valerie Brandes talks about why Jacaranda Books decided to publish the collection, and reader Yovanka Paquete Perdigao explains why she picked up Speak Gigantular and read it even though it is unlike the books she usually reads. Music for Why Why Why is by Cathode Ray Tube. You can find more of their music on CRTMusik.com.