Abubakar Adam Ibrahim was born in Jos and has been writing for as long as he can remember. He won the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007 and the ANA Plateau/Amatu Braide Prize for Prose in 2008. He is currently the Arts Editor of Sunday Trust, one of Nigeria's leading newspapers. He is the Literary Editor of Nigeria’s wide circulating Sunday Trust Newspaper and his entry, “The Bull Man’s Story” won the 2007 BBC African Performance Playwriting Competition. The Whispering Trees is his first Book. He tells us about his favourite five books!
Memoirs of a Geisha by Athur Golden
Brilliantly researched story about the lives of the Japanese geishas (or female entertainers) before during and after WW II. Golden, the American, delved into a culture lost even to the Japanese to bring us the moving story of the meek and determined Chiyo and the beautifully evil Hatsumomo. Wonderful tale.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Morrison tells the remarkable story of a woman who murdered her child to save her from slavery. It is moving and suspenseful and the craft was excellent. That woman is a master storyteller.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Imagine your true love marrying someone else and you making up your mind to wait for her husband to die even if it would take the whole of half a century. That is the remarkable premise of Marquez's novel but one incredible thing about this book is that in its almost four hundred pages, there is no more than twenty lines of dialogue or there about. But the prose is incredible you won't even notice.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini takes us on an expedition to pre-war Afghanistan to experience the lives of Mariam and Laila, two young girls whose lives are completely different but find themselves swept together by war. It is a story of unusual love, courage and sacrifice. For people in my generation, we have always known Afghanistan as a war zone, but Hosseini shows us a glimpse of his people before the wars and how they became what they have become. Brilliant.
The Famished Road by Ben Okri. This is an all time favourite for me. It opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of literature, showed me that spirits and the fantastic realms exist also in books. And it was masterfully done, the way he swept the whole of Nigeria's history into young Azzaro's life. This is a book you read and close your eyes, and you truly imagine that the sun above is actually green. Awesome.
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