Chris Abani’s prose includes The Secret History of Las Vegas, Song for Night, The Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail, GraceLand, and Masters of the Board. His poetry collections are Sanctificum, There Are No Names for Red, Feed Me the Sun, Hands Washing Water, Dog Woman, Daphne’s Lot, and Kalakuta Republic. He is the editor of Eight New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set.
Chris Abani
Articles by Chris Abani
Tuesday April 2
Love Letter
“You’re a really good writer,” she said, “almost as good as your brother Charles. You should read the novel he’s writing.” So I snuck into Charles’s room and I found a composition book crammed full of writing, and I was captivated from the first sentence. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages,” it read, “and even beyond.” Charles had copied out by hand nearly the entirety of Things Fall Apart. This was his shtick for getting girls—and that, I think, is the highest compliment a writer can receive.