Henry Akubuiro
Sefi Atta, playwright and award-winning author of Everything Good Will Come, will launch her first children’s book, Drama Queen, on Sunday, October 14, 2018, at the Simi Johnson Centre, Victoria, Island, Lagos. The book, according to the publishers, “tells the story of 12 years old Timi Aziz who has a lot to say about the perils of being in an all-girls boarding school.”
Timi, who is given a diary for her birthday, gets into a series of scrapes when other people read the entries in her diary, leading to very exciting and eye-opening incidents. The story also unfolds against the backdrop of the February 13, 1976 coup, thus providing a profoundly historical context for readers both young and old.
The event will feature a book reading and discussion, followed by a book signing.
Drama Queen is published by Mango Books, an imprint of Quramo Publishing, and is suitable for 9- to 11-year-olds. The event is open to the public. Atta will also be a guest at Ake Book Festival on Friday, October 26, 5:40-6:40 p.m., where she will talk about her new novel, The Bead Collector.
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The writer is married to Gboyega Ransome-Kuti, a medical doctor, and son of Olikoye Ransome-Kuti. Her Lagos-based production company Atta Girl supports Care to Read, a programme she initiated to earn funds for legitimate charities through staged readings. She currently divides her time between Nigeria, England and the United States.
Her short stories have appeared in literary journals such as Los Angeles Review, Mississippi Review and World Literature Today, and her books have been translated to several languages. She has published three novels: A Bit of Difference (2003), Swallow (2010) and Everything Good Will Come (2005). Her only short story collection, News from Home, was published in 2010,
Her stage plays include Last Stand (2010) Terra Kulture, Lagos (2010); An Ordinary Legacy (2012), The MUSON Festival, MUSON Centre, Lagos; The Naming Ceremony (2012), New World Nigeria, Theatre Royal Stratford East, London; Hagel auf Zamfara (2011) Theatre Krefeld, Germany; The Cost of Living (2011), Lagos Heritage Festival, Terra Kulture, Lagos; and The Engagement, MUSON Centre, Lagos (2005).
Atta’s selected awards and recognition include Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, Caine Prize for African Writing, shortlist, PEN International David TK Wong Prize, 1st Prize, BBC African Performance, 2nd Prize, Glimmer Train′s Very Short Fiction Award, finalist; Macmillan Writers Prize For Africa, shortlist, among others.