Both of Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma's novels— The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019)—were instant hits and were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. They have won several prizes, including the FT/ Oppenheimer Award for Fiction and the LA Times Book prize. He was also one of the Booker Prize judges in 2021. His next novel, The Road to the Country, about the Nigerian-Biafran War, will be out next year and can be summed up by an African proverb: “The story of a war can only be fully and truly told by both the living and the dead.”
In both his novels, Obioma blurs the line between the living and the dead. In The Fishermen, for example, written when the writer was just in his 20s, there are soothsayers, spirits, prophets and madmen. The story elaborates on the relationship between the nine-year-old protagonist and his three brothers, and the way in which their family slowly unravels under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His second book, An Orchestra of Minorities, narrated by a 'chi' or the spirit of a young poultry farmer, delves even more into the supernatural.
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Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
