Lesley Nneka Arimah (born 13 October 1983 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
) is a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
writer. She has been described as "a skillful storyteller who can render entire relationships with just a few lines of dialogue" and "a new voice with certain staying power." She is the winner of the 2015
Commonwealth Short Story Prize
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words). The prize is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations aged 18 and over. The Commonwealth Short ...
for Africa, the 2017
O. Henry Prize
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry.
The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty bes ...
, the 2017
Kirkus Prize
The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...
, and the 2019
Caine Prize for African Writing
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...
.
Biography
Arimah was born on 13 October 1983 in London. She grew up in both Nigeria and the U.K., but frequently moved around due to her father being in the military. In her early teens, she moved to the U.S., where she received her
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
in
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
from
Minnesota State University Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU, MSU, or Minnesota State) is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 123,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is t ...
in 2010.
In September 2017, the
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
honored Arimah as one of their "Five Under 35" writers to watch, and in 2019, she was a United States Artists Fellow in Writing.
Arimah currently lives in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, United States.
Writing
Short stories
Arimah's work has appeared in ''
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 ...
,'' ''
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 ...
,'' ''
Harper's'', ''Per Contra'', and several other publications.
''What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky'' (2017)
Arimah's debut collection of short stories, ''What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky,'' was published by
Riverhead Books
Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy.
Writers published by Riverhead include Ali Sethi, Marlon James (novelist), Marlon James, Junot Díaz, George Saunders, Khaled Hosseini, Nick Hornby, ...
and
Tinder Press
Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acq ...
(UK) in April 2017, then republished in Nigeria by
Farafina Books in November 2017.
The book centres on women protagonists exposed to a harsh environment that pushes them "to take certain steps to fit in, or make them realize, they just might not fit in," offering "a humanizing portrait of both the Nigerian citizen and first generation young female immigrant", showcasing "their flaws, their desires, their victories, and their attempts at carving out a place in a country whose customs and values diverge from that of their heritage.
The collection explores women's alienation from a number of angles, "including the fraught relationships between mothers and daughters and the complicated dynamics of female friendship." Her writing, ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' wrote, "conveys respect for the people who claw their way through relentlessly difficult lives."
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 ...
calls it "It's a truly wonderful debut by a young author who seems certain to have a very bright literary future ahead of her."
The short stories also each work in harmoniously to tell the stories of Nigerian women, life, and their upbringing. The short story in particular that incorporated gender norms of girls compared to what they choose to be are specifically explored in the story "Light" in which the father and mother cannot agree on what beautiful looks like for their daughter can connect to what society views as the beauty standard for today is and how it is evolving. While the mother in this story wants her daughter to appeal to more European standards of beauty by perming her hair, her father sees that this will in fact dim her light so ultimately wants her to be herself and through this, she shines on her own by not living up to the normal expectations put on her as a person from her mother and the society's at large standard of beauty. Relating to these themes, the story "Who Will Greet You At Home" explores the struggles of motherhood, class, expectation, and empathy. The protagonist, Ogechi, tries to fabricate a child out of the materials around her. The short story and title of the book "When a Man Falls from the Sky" explores the idea of pain and grief and how heavy a burden they can feel like with an added focus on class and imperialism. It, breaking from the rest of the stories, fits into the science fiction genre. In this story, Nneoma can remove grief through mathematics, in a Bi-African state controlled by Britain, with implications of brutal French rule of her former colonies.
This theme of dealing with grief occurs frequently in the collection, and appears in the penultimate story of the collection, entitled: "What is a Volcano". This story takes a folkloric twist, following gods and goddesses dealing with the grief that comes with losing a child. This beautiful story explores the fact that immortal beings can feel very human emotions, noting that grief is a powerful force that can overwhelm anyone, even goddesses.
These short stories explore the genre of
magical realism
Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to:
* Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse
* "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr
* '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...
, where a fantastical element is added to realistic fiction. In many of her stories, Arimah takes a plot that could very well just be realism and adds a magical twist. By doing this, she is able to put a new lens on important themes throughout the collection, and allow her readers to understand difficult subjects, such as grief and poverty through magical elements.
Publications
* ''What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky'', New York: Riverhead, 2017. ,
References
External links
Lesley Nneka Arimah's website* Chukwuebuka Ibeh
"The Brittle Paper Interview with the Caine Prize 2019 Winner: Lesley Nneka Arimah" ''
Brittle Paper
''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...
'', 20 September 2019.
Lesley Nneka Arimah Wins 2019 Caine Prize For African Writing ''NPR'', 14 July 2019
Caine Prize Winner - Lesley Nneka Arimah ''BBC'', 23 July 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arimah, Lesley Nneka
Living people
Igbo women writers
21st-century Nigerian writers
21st-century Nigerian women writers
1983 births
Kirkus Prize winners
Nommo Award winners
Caine Prize winners