Kachifo Limited, publishers of the Farafina imprint is pleased to announce that one of its writers, Nnedi Okorafor – Mbachu was on Sunday, November 2, 2008 awarded the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Nnedi's award winning book, Zahrah the Windseeker, was published by Farafina in July 2008. The award ceremony took place at The Ballroom - Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, presented the award in person. The prize money which is $20,000, is administered by the Lumina Foundation.

Also present was one of the other finalists, Wale Okediran, author of The Weaving Looms. Uzodinma Iweala, the third finalist and author of Beasts of No Nation, was unavailable.

Nnedi has several short stories which have been published in anthologies and magazines. Zahrah the Windseeker is her first novel. It is a tale of adventure, friendship and courage. Nicely illustrated and beautifully told, Zahrah the Windseeker makes a good read for both adults and children.

The recommended retail price is N1000 and it is available in all major bookstores in Nigeria. It can also be purchased online at www.kachifo.com or at Kachifo Limited, 8th Floor, SIO Towers, 25 Boyle Street Onikan, Lagos.

Kachifo Limited, the publisher of Farafina Magazine and Farafina books, is proud to announce the release of Weaverbird, a collection of exciting new work written by Nigerians and exploring the major themes of our contemporary experience. Weaverbird is out in major bookstores and is sold at a recommended retail price of N1500.

SYNOPSIS

Weaverbird is a collection of fourteen short stories touching all aspects of Nigerian life—from the deeply personal to the overtly political. National crises like corruption and conflict in the Niger Delta are explored, but also individual experiences of love, sex and pride. Many of the stories also balance the complex interplay and contradictions between the individual and the social, so that Ayodele Ayogbami's "Shadow of Eclipse", for instance, is at once the tale of a young girl's desperate choice to sell her body and a commentary on the national condition. Other authors in the collection are bold, even provocative, in their choices: Uche Umezurike in his "A Night So Damp" confronts homosexuality, an issue most Nigerians would rather silence, and Tolu Ogunlesi writes about how corruption in Nigeria corrupts even the seemingly incorruptible.



Edited by Akin Adesokan, Ike Anya, Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Ike Oguine, Weaverbird presents a wonderfully thought-provoking body of new Nigerian writing.

Featured authors are: Ike Oguine, Adebayo Ayobami, Unoma Azuah, Khalidah Bello, Ike Okonta, Ikhide Ikheola, Mogbolahan Koya-Oyagbola, Ayodele Arigbagbu, Tolu Ogunlesi, Shylle Shonoiki, E.C Osondu, Victor Ehikhamenor, Tade Ipadeola and Uche Peter Umez.