Adaobi Tricia Obinne Nwaubani (born 1976) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

humorist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. Her debut novel, '' I Do Not Come To You By Chance'', won the 2010

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...

for Best First Book (Africa), a Betty Trask First Book award, and was named by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' as one of the Best Books of 2009. Her debut Young Adult novel, '' Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree'', based on interviews with girls kidnapped by

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...

, was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in September 2018. It won the 2018 Raven Award for Excellence in Arts and Entertainment, was named as one of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, and is a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2019 selection.

Biography

Nwaubani was born in

Enugu Enugu () verbally pronounced as "Enụgwụ" by the Igbo indigenes is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the so ...

, Nigeria, to Chief Chukwuma Hope Nwaubani and

Dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

Patricia Uberife Nwaubani on 28 March 1976. Nwaubani was raised by both parents in her hometown

Umuahia Umuahia () is the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to its south, and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Ni ...

Abia State Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enug ...

, among the

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and historically also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', / / ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Their primary origin is fo ...

. Her family is descended from members of the

Nigerian chieftaincy system The Nigerian Chieftaincy is the chieftaincy system that is native to Nigeria. Consisting of everything from the country's monarchs to its titled family Elder (administrative title), elders, the chieftaincy as a whole is one of the oldest contin ...

; her great-grandfather Chief Nwaubani Ogogo Oriaku – the source of her surname – was a famous chief and a trader licensed by the Royal Niger Company in the late 19th century. His goods included slaves. At the age of 10, she left home to attend boarding school at the Federal Government Girls College Owerri. She studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

, Nigeria's premier university. As a teenager, Nwaubani secretly dreamed of becoming a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

agent. She earned her first income from winning a writing competition at the age of 13. Her mother is a cousin to Flora Nwapa, the first female African writer to publish a book. In her first year at University, she was a member of the Idia Hall Chess Team, and also a member of the university's (classical music) choir. Nwaubani was one of the pioneer editorial staff of Nigeria's now defunct ''NEXT'' newspapers, established by

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning journalist Dele Olojede. ''I Do Not Come to You by Chance'' is Nwaubani's debut novel, published in 2009. Set in the world of Nigerian email scams, the book tells the story of a young man, Kingsley, who turns to his Uncle Boniface for help in bailing his family out of poverty. In 2019, Masobe Books earned the rights to publish ''I Do Not Come to You by Chance'' in Nigeria. Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani lives in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

, Nigeria, where she works as a consultant.

Influences

Nwaubani has expressed concern over the largely somber tone of African novels. She credits Irish-American writer Frank McCourt's Pulitzer-winning '' Angela's Ashes'' with showing her that she could write on serious issues in a humorous tone. She is also a great admirer of British humorist

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

Awards

* 2010: Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa) * 2010: Betty Trask First Book Award * 2010: Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa finalist * 2012: Nigeria Prize for Literature shortlist * 2009: ''The Washington Post'' Best Books * 2018: Recipient of the Raven Award of Excellence for her book "Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree" * 2019: Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute Reporting Award

Works

* '' I Do Not Come To You By Chance'', 2009 * '' Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree'',

, 2018

References

External links

Author's official website.

We Have Decided to Help – A Short Story by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
;Reviews * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia 1976 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century Nigerian women writers Nigerian essayists Nigerian women essayists Nigerian women novelists University of Ibadan alumni Writers from Enugu