Noo Saro-Wiwa is a British-Nigerian author, noted for her travel writing. She is the daughter of

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 ...

activist

Ken Saro-Wiwa Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995) was a Nigerians, Nigerian writer, teacher, television producer, and social rights activist. Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland ...

Education

Noo Saro-Wiwa was born in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

, Nigeria, and grew up in

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a town in Surrey, England, south of Centre of London, central London and northeast of Epsom. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,872. The majority (73%) was in the NRS social grade, ABC1 ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

in England. She attended

Roedean School Roedean () is a private boarding school governed by royal charter on the outskirts of Brighton, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1885 by three sisters to educate wealthy daughters and heiresses of aristocracy and industrial elites of the 19t ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, New York, and currently lives in London.

Writing

Saro-Wiwa's first book was '' Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria'' ( Granta Books, 2012). It was nominated for the Dolman Best Travel Book Award, and was named the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Travel Book of the Year in 2012. It was selected as

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...

'' in 2012, and was nominated by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' as one of the best travel books of 2012. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper also included it among its 10 Best Contemporary Books on Africa in 2012. It has been translated into French and Italian. In 2016 it won th
Albatros Travel Literature Prize
in Italy. In 2016, she contributed to the anthology ''An Unreliable Guide to London'' ( Influx Press), as well as ''A Country of Refuge'' (Unbound), an anthology of writing on asylum seekers. Another of her stories also featured in ''La Felicità Degli Uomini Semplici'' (66th and 2nd), an Italian-language anthology based around football. Her second book
Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China
was published by Canongate in 2023 and named the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year, 2025. She has contributed book reviews, travel, analysis and opinion articles for ''

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

City AM ''City AM'' is a free business-focused newspaper distributed in and around London, England, with an accompanying website. In January 2025, it had a monthly online readership of 4m. In 2023 it had a print circulation of 67,714. History ''City ...

'', ''

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

'', '' Prospect'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. ''

Condé Nast Traveller ''Condé Nast Traveller'' was published by Condé Nast Publications Ltd, from The Adelphi, City of Westminster, London. It is a luxury travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), location ...

'' magazine named Saro-Wiwa as one of the
30 Most Influential Female Travellers
in 2018.Michelle Jana Chan
"The World's Most Influential Women Travellers"
, ''Condé Nast Traveller'', 19 December 2018. She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology '' New Daughters of Africa'', 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 then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

. She narrated the BBC documentary
Silence Would Be Treason
', broadcast 15 January 2022. The documentary includes letters sent by

to the Irish nun, Sister Majella McCarron.

Personal life

Noo Saro-Wiwa is the daughter of the Nigerian poet and environmental activist

, and her twin sister is video artist and filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa.

Bibliography

* ''Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria'' ( Granta Books, 2012). * Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China (Canongate, 2023)

Selected articles

"The unexpected consequence of gorilla conservation in Uganda"
''City A.M.'', 11 December 2019.
"Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the creation of Fleabag"

"Swimming With Sharks: Hillary and Chelsea Clinton discuss their new book, Gutsy Women"

"Working-class heroine: Noo Saro-Wiwa shares insights and advice from Michelle Obama"
''TLS'', 6 December 2018.
"A land of conquest, casinos and copious wine, Georgia"
''City A.M.'', 5 July 2018.
"What's in a name? Well, the right letters would help"
''The Guardian'', 12 February 2015. * "Boko Haram: Why selfies won't 'bring back our girls'", ''Prospect'', 20 May 2014. *
Bombastic, monochrome and simplistic – and yet still I love Top Gun
, ''The Guardian'', 16 May 2016.Noo Saro-Wiwa
"Bombastic, monochrome and simplistic – and yet still I love Top Gun"
''The Guardian'', 16 May 2016.

References

External links

*
Noo Saro-Wiwa at ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saro-Wiwa, Noo 1976 births 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British writers 21st-century Nigerian women writers 21st-century Nigerian writers British travel writers British women travel writers Journalists from Rivers State Living people Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Nigerian twins Ogoni people Wiwa family Writers from Port Harcourt Columbia University alumni British people of Nigerian descent People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex

Education

Writing

Personal life

Bibliography

Selected articles

See also

References

External links