Chris Abani

Christopher " Chris " Abani (* 1966 in Afikpo, Nigeria ) is a Nigerian writer.

Life

Chris Abani was born in Afikpo, Nigeria. His father was a member of the Igbo people, his mother English. At sixteen, he published his first novel, Masters of the Board ( 1985), as a result, he was subjected to severe political persecution. His second novel, Graceland (2004; German Graceland ) tells the story of a young Elvis performer and his struggle against the absurd vagaries of everyday life. With Kalakuta Republic (2000), Daphne 's Lot (2003) and Dog Woman ( 2004), there are three poetry collections. He was awarded the PEN USA West Freedom -to -Write Award and the Prince Claus Award 2001 and in 2003 he received the Lannan Literary Fellowship. For Graceland he received the 2005 PEN Hemingway Foundation Award. Chris Abani is Middleton Fellow at the University of Southern California and a visiting professor at the University of California, Riverside.

Others

Chris Abani was a participant at the International Literature Festival Berlin 2004.

Works

• Masters of the Board. A Novel. Delta, Enugu, 1985, ISBN 978-2335-03-7.
• Kalakuta Republic. Saqi Books, London 2000, ISBN 0-86356-973-0.
• Daphne 's Lot. Red Hen Press, Los Angeles, CA 2003, ISBN 1-888996-62-5.
• Graceland. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, among others 2004, ISBN 0-374-16589-0 ( in German language. Graceland novel from the English by Thomas Brückner CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-52179-7. . ).
• Dog Woman. Red Hen Press, Los Angeles, CA 2004, ISBN 1-888996 X -82.
• Becoming Abigail. A Novella. Akashic Books, New York, NY 2006, ISBN 1-888451-94-7.