Uwem Akpan is a Nigerian writer. He is the author of '' Say You're One of Them'' (2008), a collection of five stories (each set in a different African country) published by Little, Brown & Company. The book inspired Angelique Kidjo to write the song "Agbalagba". It made the Best of the Year list at ''

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'' magazine, ''

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'', and other places. ''

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'' made it the Editor's Choice, and ''

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'' listed it at #27 in their Best of the Decade. ''Say You're One of Them'' won the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Africa Region), the Open Book Prize, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. A ''New York Times'' and ''Wall Street Journal'' #1 bestseller, it has been translated into 12 languages. It won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the PEN Open Book Award, and was picked by the Oprah Winfrey Book Club September 17, 2009, in Central Park. Two months later, Oprah interviewed Uwem in Chicago as part of her bookclub event with Anderson Cooper giving short commentaries on some of the African countries in Uwem's book. The interview was streamed live simultaneously from Oprah.com, Facebook and CNN. Uwem's second book, ''New York, My Village'', was published on Nov 2, 2021 by W. W. Norton. The book was picked by Strand Bookstore as their Pick of the Month for November 2021.

Life

He attended Saint Paul's Primary School, Ekparakwa; Methodist Primary School, Usung Ibong; and Saint Anne's Primary School, Ifuho; and his secondary education was at Queen of Apostles, Afaha Obong, all in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. Uwem grew up listening to Annang folktales from his mom and grandparents and aunties and uncles. The Bible and the horrific experience of the Biafran War provided other avenues for stories. When he learned to read in primary school, he transferred this love for stories to books. When teachers went on strike while he was in Primary Five in the early 80s, it made no difference to him. He even grumbled when the term resumed! After studying humanities and philosophy at Creighton University and Gonzaga University, he received a theology degree from the Catholic University of East Africa in Kenya. In 2003, Akpan was ordained a

Jesuit priest , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

. Uwem is also a graduate of the University of Michigan's MFA program. In 2009, Oprah Winfrey recommended Uwem Akpan's '' Say You're One of Them'' as her 63rd book club selection. Uwem said he was humbled to learn his debut collection of short stories had caught Winfrey's eye. Oprah said that '' Say You're One of Them'' "left erstunned and profoundly moved." The five short stories and novellas give voice to African children growing up in the face of incredible adversity. Between 2010 and 2017, Uwem was a Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Institute for the Humanities (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, New York), the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library (NYC, New York) and the Hank Center for Catholic Heritage (Loyola University Chicago, 2017). In 2015, Akpan left the Catholic priesthood to focus more time on his writing. Uwem lives in Gainesville, Florida, and teaches in the University of Florida's writing program.

Works

* *''New York, My Village''. W. W. Norton, Nov 2021.

Awards

* Winner of the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

* Winner of the PEN Open Book Award *Winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award *Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in the Fiction Category *Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction *Nominated for the Guardian First Book Award *Nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing *Longlisted for the Story Prize

References

External links

Official website''Say You're One of Them''
official website (includes excerpt, author bio, etc.).

''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', review by

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, June 27, 2008.
"Unflinching Evil in 'Say You're One of Them'"

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review by

Maureen Corrigan Maureen Corrigan is an American author, scholar, and literary critic. She is the book critic on the NPR radio program ''Fresh Air'' and writes for the "Book World" section of ''The Washington Post''. In 2014, she wrote ''So We Read On'', a book ...

, June 19, 2008.
Book Review of ''Say You're One of Them''
Joseph Adero Ngala, Director of People for Peace in Africa (PPA) in Nairobi, Kenya. This review originally was published in ''Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News'' (PPA) on 9 September 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Akpan, Uwem 1971 births University of Michigan alumni Creighton University alumni Nigerian writers Nigerian male short story writers Nigerian short story writers Nigerian expatriates in the United States Living people