''Oil on Water'' is a 2010

petrofiction Petrofiction or oil fiction, is a genre of fiction focused on the role of petroleum in society. Background The concept was first developed by Amitav Ghosh to classify literature about the petroleum industry and the impact of oil on society. He co ...

novel by Nigerian author

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 C ...

. The novel documents the experience of two journalists as they try to rescue a kidnapped European wife in the oil landscape of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

. The novel explores themes of both the ecological and political consequences of

oil conflict An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

petrodollars Petrodollar recycling is the international spending or investment of a country's revenues from petroleum exports ("petrodollars"). It generally refers to the phenomenon of major petroleum-exporting states, mainly the OPEC members plus Russia ...

in the delta. The novel was well received. ''Orion'' magazine called the novel successful, "a powerful work, one that reaffirms that art done well is always big enough to contain politics". A review in the Guardian called the book a "powerful, accomplished third novel

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

displays a growing pessimism about journalism's capacity to effect change."

Awards

* 2011

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 ...

, shortlist * 2012

Orion Book Award ''Orion'' is a quarterly, advertisement-free, nonprofit magazine focused on nature, culture, and place addressing environmental and societal issues. It has published such authors as Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Michael Po ...

, shortlist * 2012

PEN/Open Book Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

, shortlist

References

2010 Nigerian novels Petrofiction {{Nigeria-novel-stub