Buchi Emecheta is considered one of the most prominent female African writers, celebrated for her novels chronicling the experiences of African women in Nigeria and abroad.
Emecheta was born Florence Onye Buchi Emecheta on July 21, 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria. A member of the Igbo people, she grew up in poverty. Her doting father died when she was eight, leaving her and her brother with only their mother. In 1954, Emecheta won a scholarship to a prestigious Methodist high school in an affluent area of Lagos, where she fell in love with books. During her first year there, her mother died, leaving her to be passed around by distant relatives. Between her love of reading and hearing her aunt...
