Africa has produced some amazing authors and one who has been causing a stir recently is Uwem Akpan. With rave reviews in The New York Times, The Times and a whole host of other newspapers, Akpan is hot literary property. He's even won the ultimate accolade: the approval of Oprah Winfrey. (Note slight tone of irony here.)
What makes all this adulation so surprising is that Akpan is a Nigerian Catholic priest. He doesn't bash you over the head with his religion but clearly his beliefs are a major motivation behind his writing, as this fascinating interview with Granta Online reveals. However, the reason I have chosen Say You're One of Them, his debut collection of short stories, as the Sixth Form Book of the Month is not because Akpan is a priest but because the stories themselves are so good.
Be warned: Akpan writes about some truly horrific events - everything from the Rwandan genocide to child trafficking - but he does so in a way which is always deeply humane if not always terribly hopeful. The book's waiting in the library. Why not try it?
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