''Omenuko'' by Pita Nwana (by trade a carpenter) is the first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

to be written in the

Igbo language Igbo ( , ; Standard Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. Igbo languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igbo ...

, and the book was very successful among the Igbo people. The book tells the life story of the politician Igwegbe Odum, an Aro Igbo who migrated to

Arondizuogu Arondizuogu (Aro-ndizuogu) is a town inhabited by the Aro people, an Igbo subgroup in Imo State of Nigeria. The Arondizuogu community is believed to have migrated from Arochukwu in the present Abia State to their current settlements in Imo State, ...

. Written in 1933, it won a prize in a competition run by the

International African Institute The International African Institute (IAI) was founded (as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures - IIALC) in 1926 in London for the study of African languages. Frederick Lugard was the first chairman (1926 to his death in 19 ...

and is the biography of the eponymous slave-dealer, originally being published in 1935.

References

1935 Nigerian novels Igbo-language mass media Igbo culture {{Nigeria-novel-stub