Sarah Ladipo Manyika is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is author of two well received novels, '' In Dependence'' (2009) and ''Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun'' (2016), as well as the non-fiction collection ''Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora'' (2022), and her writing has appeared in publications including ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'', '' Transition'', ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the m ...

'', and '' OZY'', and previously served as founding Books Editor of ''OZY''. Manyika's work also features in the 2019 anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

''.

Early life

Sarah Manyika was born and raised in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. She has also lived in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, France, Zimbabwe, the United States, and Britain. Her father is Nigerian and her mother is British.

Career

Manyika studied at the Universities of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

(UK),

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

(France), and California (Berkeley), receiving a Ph.D from the latter."About Sarah Ladipo Manyika"
Sarah Ladipo Manyika website. Her writing includes published essays, academic papers, book reviews and short stories.

Fiction

Manyika's short story "Mr Wonder" appeared in the 2008 collection ''Women Writing Zimbabwe''. Her first novel, ''In Dependence'', was originally published by Legend Press, London, in 2008, and was chosen by the UK's largest bookstore chain as its featured book for

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. In 2009, ''In Dependence'', was published by Cassava Republic, a literary press based in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plan ...

, Nigeria (as well as, latterly, in the UK), with a stable of authors that includes Teju Cole and Helon Habila. Speaking of her decision to sign with an African publisher, Manyika has said: "I realized that by granting world rights to an African publisher I could, in a small way, attempt to address the imbalance of power in a world where the gatekeepers of literature, even for so-called African stories, remain firmly rooted in the west."

Toni Kan Anthony Kan Onwordi known as Toni Kan (born 11 June 1971) is a Nigerian writer, editor, public relations senior management executive, and teacher. He is author of the collection of short stories, ''Nights of a Creaking Bed'', noted for exploring ...

writes in ''

The Lagos Review ''The Lagos Review'' is a Nigerian literary magazine based in Lagos. It was founded by Toni Kan and Dami Ajayi in 2019. History ''The Lagos Review'' was officially launched in September 2019, founded by Nigerian writer Toni Kan Anthony ...

'': "Sarah Manyika has written an impressive debut novel which will find a well deserved place in the pantheon of post-colonial literature." In 2014, ''In Dependence'' was published by

Weaver Press Weaver Press is a Zimbabwean independent publisher formed in 1998 in Harare.Weaver Press website
The press was ...

in Zimbabwe, where it is a set book for the Advanced-level English Literature examination. ''In Dependence'' has also been introduced by the

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...

(JAMB) in Nigeria for candidates sitting for the 2017

UTME The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typi ...

. She was a finalist for a 2021 Audie Award for her narration of the novel. Manyika's second novel, ''Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun'', on its publication in spring 2016 was endorsed by many other writers, including

Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel '' Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's '' The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Bla ...

("Manyika's story about an elderly Nigerian woman is quiet, sophisticated and it expands the canon of contemporary African literature into welcome new territory"), Aminatta Forna ("gorgeous and finely crafted...Sarah Manyika's novel shows ordinary people at their best. Uplifting!"), NoViolet Bulawayo ("Astute, sensual, funny, and moving"),

Jamal Mahjoub Jamal Mahjoub (born London 1966) is a mixed-race writer of British and Sudanese parents. He writes in English and has published eight novels under his own name. In 2012, Mahjoub began writing a series of crime fiction novels under the pseudony ...

("Manyika writes with great verve and gentle wit, illuminating her characters with subtle insight"),

Peter Orner Peter Orner is an American writer. He is the author of two novels, two story collections and a book of essays. Orner holds the Professorship of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and was formerly a professor of creative writing at ...

("A beautiful, important new novel, and one that will continue to echo in a reader's mind for a long time after"), E. C. Osondu ("unforgettable...a powerful meditation on loss, memory, exile and loneliness. The characters in this novel will stay with you"), and

Brian Chikwava Brian Chikwava is a Zimbabwean writer and musician. His short story "Seventh Street Alchemy" was awarded the 2004 Caine Prize for African writing in English; Chikwava became the first Zimbabwean to do so. He has been a Charles Pick fellow at th ...

("A wonderfully constructed novel, always surprising"). It has been translated into several languages. ''Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun'' was shortlisted in September 2016 for the

Goldsmiths Prize The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the ''New Statesman.'' It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of ...

(alongside books by

Rachel Cusk Rachel Cusk (born 8 February 1967) is a British novelist and writer. Childhood and education Cusk was born in Saskatoon to British parents in 1967, the second of four children with an older sister and two younger brothers, and spent much of h ...

Deborah Levy Deborah Levy (born 6 August 1959) is a British novelist, playwright and poet. She initially concentrated on writing for the theatre – her plays were staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company – before focusing on prose fiction. Her early nov ...

Eimear McBride Eimear McBride (born 16 April 1976) is an Irish novelist, whose debut novel, ''A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing'', won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 and the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Published works McBride wrote ''A Girl Is ...

, Mike McCormack and Anakana Schofield), "the first African novel to be considered for this prize", which was set up to reward fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form. The novel was also shortlisted for the California Book Award in the fiction category (alongside works by such writers as

Andrew Sean Greer Andrew Sean Greer (born November 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel '' Less''. He is the author of ''The Story of a Marriage'', which ''The New York Times'' has ...

Percival Everett Percival Everett (born December 22, 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Life Everett lives in Los Angeles, California. Literary career While completing his AM degree at B ...

, and Viet Thanh Nguyen). Of the genesis for ''Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun'' Manyika has said: "I've met many older women who have lived colourful lives, and yet when it comes to fiction I don't find many stories that mirror this, especially so when it comes to the lives of black women. When I cannot find stories that I'd like to read, I try writing them for myself." The novel's title is an acknowledged line from a poem by

Mary Ruefle Mary Ruefle (born 1952) is an American poet, essayist, and professor. She has published many collections of poetry, the most recent of which, ''Dunce'' (Wave Books, 2019), was longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry and was a finalist f ...

called "Donkey On". Manyika is a contributor to the 2019 anthology '' New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Le ...

, participating in associated events.

Non-fiction

Manyika's non-fiction writing includes personal essays, book reviews, and in-depth profiles. For example, her essay "Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie" tells of her worries raising her son in modern America. She has written book reviews for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', including on '' Glory'' by NoViolet Bulawayo, and ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', including on ''Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick'' by

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on hoodoo. The most popular of her four n ...

. Her profile subjects include a piece on

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' and

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

. Interviews with some of those from whom she has drawn inspiration are the focus of Manyika's 2022 book ''Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora'' (Footnote Press), described as "a celebration of personal and collective stories, of histories, of people making a way where there seems to be no way, making a difference, making history." With a Foreword by

, it features activists, artists and intellectuals including

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

, Michelle Obama,

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...

Claudia Rankine Claudia Rankine (; born September 4, 1963) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays. Her book of poetry, '' Citizen: An American L ...

Henry Louis Gates, Jr Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

Xoliswa Sithole Xoliswa Sithole (born 31 December 1968) is a South African actress and documentary filmmaker, raised in Zimbabwe. she won a BAFTA in 2004 for her documentary ''Orphans Of Nkandla''. She won a Peabody Award in 2010 and a BAFTA in 2011 for her do ...

Anna Deavere Smith Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in '' The West Wing'' (2000–06), hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series ''N ...

, Lord Michael Hastings and

Evan Mawarire Evan Mawarire (born 7 March 1977) is a Zimbabwean pastor and democratic activist. He came to prominence during the 2016–17 Zimbabwe protests that challenged the rule of Robert Mugabe’s government. It was reported that Mawarire urged the peop ...

. Among those who have praised ''Between Starshine and Clay'' are David Olusoga ("Each encounter framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace. ...a snap-shot of where the peoples of the Black diaspora stand, today in the early 21st Century, and how much has been overcome to get here"),

Delroy Lindo Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is an English-American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' C ...

("This is a one-of-a-kind book, a necessary and important one"), Ato Quayson ("A lesson in magic from Manyika's writing"), NoViolet Bulawayo ("Sarah Ladipo Manyika brings an intimate, eclectic, and delightfully startling freshness in this remarkably curated celebration of the African Diaspora") and Dame

Vivian Hunt Dame Vivian Yvonne Hunt (born July 1967) served as a senior partner for consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where she provided strategic advice to leading firms in the private, public and third sectors, and also served as Managing Partner for the ...

("an amazing collection that will inspire readers young and old").

Literary community

Manyika works with a number of organizations that support and amplify young writers and female voices. She is President of the

Hedgebrook Hedgebrook is a rural retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Washington, founded in 1988. Hedgebrook's artist-in-residence program accepts up to 80 writers each year, who spend two to four weeks in residence working on their diverse writi ...

Board of Directors and on the Advisory Council of

826 Valencia 826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. It wa ...

. She previously served on the Board of the

Museum of the African Diaspora The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a contemporary art museum in San Francisco, California. MoAD holds exhibitions and presents artists exclusively of the African diaspora, one of only a few museums of its kind in the United States. Locat ...

(MoAD) in San Francisco and partnered with MoAD to host an interview series, Conversations across the Dispora, featuring conversations with authors, artists, philanthropists, and scholars. She additionally hosted '' OZY''s video series, Write, and was the magazine's Books Editor.Sarah Ládípọ̀ Manyika
biography at ''OZY''. She has also served as a judge for literary competitions, the Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2014, the Goldsmiths Prize in 2020, and the

Aspen Words Literary Prize The Aspen Words Literary Prize, established in 2018, is an annual literary award presented by Aspen Words, a literary center in Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of ...

in 2021.

Personal life

She and her husband

James Manyika James M. Manyika is a Zimbabwean-American academic, consultant, and business executive. He is known for his research and scholarship into the intersection of technology and the economy, including artificial intelligence, robotics automation, and ...

married in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, Zimbabwe, in 1994.

Honours and recognition

In December 2022, Manyika was listed by ''

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as w ...

'' magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of the year.

Works

Novels

* '' In Dependence'' ( Legend Press, 2008; Cassava Republic Press, 2009) * ''Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun'' (Cassava Republic Press, 2016, ).

Non-fiction

* ''Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora'', Foreword by

(Footnote Press, 2022)

Short stories

* "Mr Wonder" in ''Women Writing Zimbabwe'' (

Weaver Press Weaver Press is a Zimbabwean independent publisher formed in 1998 in Harare.Weaver Press website
The press was ...

, 2008) * "Modupe" in ''African Love Stories'' (Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd, 2006) * "Girlfriend" in ''Fathers & Daughters'' (Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd, 2008) * "The Ambassador's Wife" in

(editor), ''

'' (

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including m ...

, 2019)

Book chapters

* "Oyinbo" in ''Prolematizing Blackness'' (Routledge, 2003)

Selected essays

* "Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie", ''

'', 23 June 2015. * "Betting on Africa", ''

Brittle Paper ''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...

'', 28 March 2016. * "For the Love of Older Characters in Good Books", '' OZY'', 29 October 2017. * "Game of Tomes: The Struggle for Literary Prizes", ''OZY'', 2 November 2017. * "On Meeting Toni Morrison", '' Transition'', No. 124, Writing Black Canadas (2017), pp. 138–147.

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...

Hutchins Center for African and African American Research The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, also known as the Hutchins Center, is affiliated with Harvard University. The Center supports scholarly research on the history and culture of people of African descent around the world ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. * "What James Baldwin Means To Me", ''Brittle Paper'', 4 March 2019. * "On Meeting Mrs Obama", ''

146: The Politics of Feeling'', 22 March 2019. * "On Meeting Margaret Busby", ''Granta'', 19 October 2020.

Research reports

''Ph.D. Programs in African Universities: Current Status and Future Prospects. Report to the Rockefeller Foundation''
Co-authored with David Szanton (University of Berkeley, California, 2002).

References

External links

Official websiteListen aloud to readings from ''In Dependence''Introduction to Black History MonthReview of ''In Dependence''
on the Catch a Vibe site
Review of ''In Dependence''
by Andreas Martin Widmann. *Sarah Ladipo Manyika interviewed by Nkrumah Bankong-Obi
"My Life, My Writings"
''P.M. News Nigeria'', 26 March 2014. *Ovo Adagha

''African Writing'', No. 9.
Sarah Ládípọ̀ Manyika
on ''OZY''
"Toni Morrison In Conversation"
Mario Kaiser & Sarah Ladipo Manyika in conversation with Toni Morrison. ''Granta'', 29 June 2017.
"Twenty Questions with Sarah Ladipo Manyika"
''

TLS TLS may refer to: Computing * Transport Layer Security, a cryptographic protocol for secure computer network communication * Thread level speculation, an optimisation on multiprocessor CPUs * Thread-local storage, a mechanism for allocating vari ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Manyika, Sarah Ladipo 1968 births 21st-century British writers 21st-century Nigerian women writers 21st-century Nigerian writers 21st-century novelists Alumni of the University of Birmingham Black British women academics Black British women writers British expatriate academics in the United States British expatriates in France British expatriates in Kenya Living people Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Nigerian people of British descent Nigerian women academics San Francisco State University faculty University of Bordeaux alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Writers from Ibadan Yoruba women writers

Early life

Career

Fiction

Non-fiction

Literary community

Personal life

Honours and recognition

Works

Novels

Non-fiction

Short stories

Book chapters

Selected essays

Research reports

See also

References

External links