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2025 Longlist

The Road to the Country

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

When a country is plunged into civil war, two brothers on either side of it are divided. They will try to find their way back to each other. Kunle’s search for his sibling Tunde becomes a journey of atonement which sees him conscripted into the army to fight a war he hardly understands. Once there, he will forge friendships to last a lifetime, and he will meet a woman who will change his world forever. But will he find his brother? This story of a young man seeking redemption in a nation on fire is an odyssey of brotherhood, love and unimaginable courage set during the Biafran War.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Chigozie
Obioma

Chigozie Obioma was born in Acre, Nigeria. His two previous novels, The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, were both finalist for the Booker Prize. His novels have won the inaugural FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, the NAACP Image Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction and have been nominated for many others. Together, they have been translated into thirty languages. He was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and divides his time between the United States and Nigeria.

Chigozie Obioma was born in Acre, Nigeria. His two previous novels, The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, were both finalist for the Booker Prize. His novels have won the inaugural FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, the NAACP Image Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction and have been nominated for many others. Together, they have been translated into thirty languages. He was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and divides his time between the United States and Nigeria.

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NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

The story of a young man seeking redemption in a country ablaze, Chigozie Obioma’s novel is an odyssey through brotherhood, love, and unimaginable courage during one of the most devastating conflicts in African history. The intertwining of myth and realism results in a gripping, inspired, and emotionally powerful novel. One of the things that sets Obioma apart from other authors is his ability to take the reader with him. You are in Nigeria in the 1960ies with him, experiencing everything together with him and our main character, Kunle. We are there! Present. Both right now and 60 years ago. And that is why we i Aarhus Libraries are proud to nominate him to the 2025 Dublin Literary Award.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
30/05/2024
Country
Nigeria
Original Language
English
Publisher
Hutchinson Heinemann
Borrow this book from Libraries Ireland

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