Adrian Igonibo Barrett (born 26 March 1979) is a Nigerian writer of short stories and novels. In 2014, he was named on the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Following his two collections of short stories – ''From Caves of Rotten Teeth'' (2005) and ''Love Is Power, or Something Like That'' (2013) – his first novel, '' Blackass'', was published in 2015, described by the ''

Chicago Review of Books The ''Chicago Review of Books'' is an online literary publication of StoryStudio Chicago which reviews recent books covering diverse genres, presses, voices, and media. The magazine was started in 2016 and Adam Morgan is the founding editor-in-c ...

'' as "

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...

with a wink".

Career

Born in Port Harcourt,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, to a Nigerian mother and the

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n novelist and poet

Lindsay Barrett Carlton Lindsay Barrett (born 15 September 1941), also known as Eseoghene, is a Jamaican-born poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist and photographer, whose work has interacted with the Caribbean Artists Movement in the UK, the Black ...

,"Nigerian Author Fights Brain Drain"
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 22 May 2011. A. Igoni Barrett studied agriculture at the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 19 ...

, although one year before graduating he decided that he wanted to be a writer. He has said: "My father was the first person to support me as a writer. I felt I had to prove to myself that I was serious about writing, so I gave the ultimate sacrifice – I gave up my university education for a self-education in writing." In 2007 Barrett moved to

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

, where he met his wife, the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

journalist and writer Femke van Zeijl. His first book, a collection of short stories entitled ''From Caves of Rotten Teeth'', was published in 2005 and reissued in 2008. A story from the collection, "The Phoenix", won the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition. His second collection of stories, ''Love Is Power, or Something Like That'', was published by Graywolf Press in 2013; according to ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', the collection "pulses with an indomitable life force that is, by turns, tender and fierce". ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' commented: "These rich pieces are also brilliantly sequenced.... Shifts in mood happen throughout the book.... Unlikely moments of empathy occur again and again amid wrenching drama and subtle comedy; the resulting collection satisfies on numerous levels." ''Love is Power, or Something Like That'' was chosen as a "best book of 2013" by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and ''

Flavorwire ''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally con ...

''. His debut novel, entitled '' Blackass'', was published in 2015. Reviewing it in ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'',

Jon Day Sir Jonathan Stephen Day (born 23 April 1954) is a retired British Civil Servant lately serving as the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation at the Cabinet Office. Day initially trained ...

wrote: "From the first sentence,

’s ''

The Metamorphosis ''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...

'' confronts you with the inherent strangeness of the pact you make when you read fiction. Gregor Samsa has become an insect, Kafka says. Suspend your disbelief. Take it or leave it. A Igoni Barrett’s first novel — his third book — demands a similar response....to read him only as a Nigerian writer would be to do him a disservice. For ''Blackass'' is a strange, compelling novel, and Barrett has something to tell us all." Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Helon Habila Helon Habila Ngalabak (born November 1967) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, whose writing has won many prizes, including the Caine Prize in 2001. He worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before moving in 2002 to England, where he was a ...

said: "Igoni Barrett's greatest asset is his ability to satirise the ridiculous extents people, especially Lagosians, go to in order to appear important." Claire Fallon for the '' Huffington Post'' concluded: "Blackass is a blunt, transparently written novel — the kind that makes the reader feel as though they’re standing inside the skin of the character, going about his day with him — and though the topic could easily be that of a polemic, it’s also a subtle, circumspect novel about the intersecting, sometimes mutually exclusive needs humans have for family and connection, and for status and power." Aaron Bady of '' OkayAfrica'' calls it "the most unapologetically Nigerian book that American publishers have published in a long time, and as the ' Afropolitan' has become an increasingly omnipresent strand of contemporary African literature, there has been a steady backlash, both against the Afropolitan as such, and against the entire category of African immigrant literature. Invited as a participant to various literary festivals, Barrett was a guest reader on the opening night of the

PEN World Voices The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature is an annual week-long literary festival held in New York City and Los Angeles. The festival was founded by Salman Rushdie, Esther Allen, and Michael Roberts and was launched in 2005. The fes ...

Festival in 2013, and a guest writer at the

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

' Miracle Marathon in 2016 and the 2018 edition of

Festivaletteratura Festivaletteratura is a literary festival, held in Mantua, Italy, since 1997. Its peculiar formula is to host five days of small-sized lectures by authors from all over the world. The event is run mostly by volunteers, numbering around 700 in tota ...

. He was the founding organizer of the BookJam reading series in

, Nigeria, which featured the writers Jude Dibia,

Michela Wrong Michela Wrong (born 1961) is a British people, British journalist and author who has spent more than two decades writing about Africa. Her postings as a journalist began in Europe and then West, Central and East Africa. She has worked for Reuter ...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...

Binyavanga Wainaina Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina (18 January 1971 – 21 May 2019) was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In April 2014, ''Time'' magazine included Wainaina in its annual ''Time'' 100 as one of the "Mo ...

and

Tsitsi Dangarembga Tsitsi Dangarembga (born 4 February 1959) is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, '' Nervous Conditions'' (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC i ...

, among others. Barrett's work has appeared in several publications, including '' Al Jazeera English'' and ''

''.

Awards and accolades

A. Igoni Barrett was a winner of the BBC World Service short story competition for 2005 with a story entitled "The Phoenix", which was broadcast on 2 January 2006. In 2010, he was awarded a

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and '' magnum opus'', ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), occupies ...

Center Fellowship. In 2011, he was awarded a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship and a

Bellagio Center The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

Residency. Barrett was named as one of 39 sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 in the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...

and Rainbow Book Club Africa39 project celebrating Port Harcourt

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Book Capital The World Book Capital (WBC) is an initiative of UNESCO which recognises cities for promoting books and fostering reading for a year starting on April 23rd, World Book and Copyright Day. Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital carry out act ...

2014. His debut novel ''Blackass'' won the

People's Literature Publishing House The People's Literature Publishing House () is a large-scale publishing house in China. It was established in March 1951, and was attached to the (). It is known for scholarly publications, editions of classical Chinese literature, dictionaries, ...

and the Chinese Foreign Literature Society's 21st Century Best Foreign Novel Award. He was a

Civitella Ranieri Foundation The Civitella Ranieri Foundation is an American artists’ community located at a 15th-century castle in the Umbria region of Italy. The Foundation provides four sessions of six-week long unstructured residencies every year to visual artists, ...

Fellow in 2018. Igoni Barrett was a

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Award laureate at the 2021 edition of the International London Literary Award."Laureates of International London Literary Award In category Professionals"
The International Union of Writers website, 9 March 2021.

Works

*''From Caves of Rotten Teeth: A Collection of Short Stories'', Daylight Media Services, 2005, *''Love Is Power, Or Something Like That: Stories'', Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2013, *'' Blackass'', London: Chatto & Windus, 2015, ; Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016, .''Blackass''
at Graywolf Press.Briefly reviewed in th
April 25, 2016 issue
of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', p.95. ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

Webcast at the Library of Congress
8 May 2013. *Ted Hodgkinson
"Interview: A. Igoni Barrett"
''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', 26 June 2013.
"Writing a New Nigeria: Ideas of Identity"

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, 3 December 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, A. Igoni 1979 births Living people 21st-century male writers 21st-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century short story writers Nigerian male novelists Nigerian male short story writers Nigerian people of Jamaican descent Nigerian short story writers University of Ibadan alumni Writers from Port Harcourt