«Every day he lived, he felt less like himself. Growth people called it; he thought of it as estrangement.»
In his short story collection God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, the Nigerian writer Arinze Ifeakandu describes a youthful, urban, and queer Nigeria, brimming with life and love. The nine stories, with mainly male protagonists, paint a broad picture of queer experiences: all-consuming love, burning desire, secret relationships, physical and sexual violence, loneliness and sorrow. With tenderness, ferocity and melancoly, Ifeakandu describes the universal search for human connection, and the need to find someone to belong to is a recurrent theme throughout the book.
Arinze Ifeakandu is a literary shooting star from Nigeria, with a characteristic, lyrical prose, who has been advocated by authors such as Damon Galgut og Colm Tóibín. God’s Children Are Little Broken Things from 2022 is his literary debut, winning him several literary prizes, including the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize. In addition to the short story collection, Ifeakandu has published several shorter pieces of both fiction and non-fiction, and is currently working on his first novel.
Andrew McMillan is the author of several poetry collections as well as the critically acclaimed novel Pity. Outside of his work as a writer, McMillan is Professor of Contemporary writing at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and has edited the anthology 100 Queer Poems (with Mary Jean Chan).
McMillan will lead Ifeakandu through a conversation about God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, loneliness, ecstasy and belonging.
The conversation will be in English. The event is part of the Norwegian Literature House's pride program and is supported by Norad.
