Never Look an American in the Eye: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American
On Monday, October 31, 2016 by 7.00 pm, renowned author and scholar, Okey Ndibe will be at the Brazos Bookstore, in Houston, TX for the book signing and discussion of his new book, Never Look an American in the Eye: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American. Brazos Bookstore is on 2421 Bissonnet Houston, Texas 77005
Okey Ndibe’s funny, charming, and penetrating memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential—but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency—African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe’s relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just thirteen days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery. All these stories and more come together in a generous, encompassing book about the making of a writer and a new American.
Brazos Bookstore is known as the center for the most creative, intelligent and engaged readers in Greater Houston, connecting booklovers with the best contemporary and classic literature, non-fiction, art and architecture monographs, and books for children.
Okey Ndibe is the author of two novels, “Foreign Gods, Inc.” (named one of the best books of 2014 by, among others, Janet Maslin of the New York Times, National Public Radio, Philadelphia Inquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Mosaic magazine), and “Arrows of Rain” as well as the memoir, “Never Look an American in the Eye: Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts and the Making of a Nigerian American”. He is also a co-editor (with Zimbabwean writer, Chenjerai Hove) of “Writers Writing on Conflicts and Wars in Africa.” His career as a writer began after he responded in the affirmative when a novelist asked, “You’re working on a novel, right?”
Ndibe was a 2015-2016 Shearing Fellow at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He earned MFA and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and has taught at Brown University, Trinity College, Simon’s Rock College, Connecticut College, and the University of Lagos (as a Fulbright scholar). He served as the founding editor of African Commentary, a US-based international magazine published by the late novelist, Chinua Achebe. He was a member of the editorial board of Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the US, where his journalism won national and state awards.
Ndibe’s essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, BBC online, Financial Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera online, The Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Fabian Society Journal, www.saharareporters.com, and www.thisisafrica.me. His weekly column on Nigerian politics and culture appears in the Daily Sun (Nigeria) and numerous websites. He is currently working on a novel titled “Native Tongues”.
For more information about the event, please follow the link >>>. To contact the author, email Okey Ndibe >>
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