Bountiful Famine

2013 Longlist

Bountiful Famine begins by introducing the reader to a young boy who is injured and appears to be buried alive in a wooden container. Memories of his pastoral African childhood as part of a subsistence farming family are woven into an ostensibly ordinary day in the life of Nadus. Life on the African savannah is a source of many stories that are intriguing because of the unique situations within, and familiar because of the universality of human interactions in a part of the world exotic to most Western readers.

The reader learns about Nadus and his family, the exotic animals in their care, and the mischief that Nadus and his friends stumble into. But then something unexpected happens during the young boy’s day, something terrible that ultimately ties everything together and forever changes his life. Although Bountiful Famine is inspired by actual events in Africa’s history and present, a reader from any background will still gain insight from what unfolds in this emotionally gripping journey that will entertain, enlighten, and astonish.

About the Author

Sheg came alone to the U.S. from West Africa in 2001 at the age of eighteen. Five years later, he earned a Masters degree in Applied Molecular Biology from the University of Maryland and worked for three years as a research scientist at Vanderbilt University.

In 2008, Sheg was featured on Oprah’s Big Give Show. A year later, he was selected as one of the young leaders by Ebony Magazine and the Nashville Business Journal respectively. He is currently studying Medicine at the University of Tennessee. Bountiful Famine is his first novel and his second book.