Aiwanose Odafen
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Aiwanose Odafen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lagos,Nigeria |
| Occupation | Accountant Writer |
| Notable works | Tomorrow I become a woman We were girls once |
| Website | |
| https://www.aiwanose.com/about | |
Aiwanose Odafen is a Nigerian feminist writer. She is the author of Tomorrow I Become A Woman (2022) and We Were Girls Once (2024). She was born in Lagos, Nigeria and attended Nigerian Turkish International College, graduating in 2009. As a high school student, she was a gold and silver medalist in the Nigerian National Mathematics Olympiad Competition. In 2013, she graduated from Covenant University with a first-class degree in Accounting as the Best Graduating Student in the Department of Accounting, School of Business and College of Development Student.
Career[edit]
She is a certified accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom.In 2015, Aiwanose graduated with an MBA from the University of Oxford [1]as the youngest student in her class. Following her graduation, she worked as a consultant across industries.Aiwanose is set to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers Workshop in 2024. As a writer, she has contributed to published non-fiction works and participated in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus Trust Writing Workshop. Her short story FACES was long listed for the 2020 Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
In 2020, her debut novel Tomorrow I Become A Woman was acquired by Scribner UK, a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster UK in a three-book deal.[8] It was subsequently published in 2022. Upon publication, it received nation- and continent-wide acclaim with features in PlusTV Africa, News24, Belfast Telegraph, Afrocritik, Radr Africa, The Johannesburg Review of Books, Brittle Paper, BellaNaija,[9]OpenCountry Magazine, The Republic, amongst others. Reviewers praised Odafen’s Tomorrow I Become A Woman stating that “it’s difficult to believe this is a debut novel,” and describing it as “a worthy contribution” to the feminist fiction and discourse within the continent. The novel has been said to be in conversation with other prominent feminist African novels including Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay with Me, and Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. It was listed as one of Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books Of 2022,[10]OpenCountry Magazine’s 60 Notable Books of 2022 [11] and Afrocritik‘s Top 25 African Novels of 2022.[12]It's been the subject of academic papers and has been taught in schools including the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Bensberg in Germany. According to Rovingheights, it was one of the bestselling novels of 2022 in Nigeria.
In 2022, Aiwanose was a contributor to “I AM ADONA,” a collection of inspiring stories by African women about what they view to be their country's greatest achievement in advancing women’s rights and empowerment. The collection includes writings from an array of women who are trailblazers in their field including 2020 recipient of the BBC World News Komla Dumor Award, Victoria Rubadiri; Botswana’s first TED fellow and LGBT Activist, Katlego K Kolanyane-Kesupile; and many more.
Her second novel, We Were Girls Once was published on April 25th 2024. [13]It has been described by Isele Magazine “sharp, unadorned, and unforgiving” with Ukamaka Olisakwe stating that it “takes the deft mind of an attentive writer to stir this kind of somber reflection.”[14]
References[edit]
- ^ "Aiwanose Odafen | Saïd Business School". www.sbs.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Aiwanose Odafen". metatags.io. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
- ^ "Aiwanose Odafen". Ouida Books. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ Odafen, Aiwanose (2022-05-06). "Conversations tend to change Aiwanose Odafen's mind, not books". The Republic. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Curtis Brown". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ College, Green Templeton; Parrott, Nick (2022-04-28). "Aiwanose Odafen releases debut novel". Green Templeton College. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Aiwanose Odafen: Documenting Women's Realities, Through Authentic Storytelling - Radr Africa". radrafrica.com. 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ Odafen, Aiwanose (2023-03-02). Tomorrow I Become a Woman. Scribner. ISBN 978-1-3985-0614-5.
- ^ Nwaeke, Chinaza (2023-01-19). "BN Book Review: Tomorrow I Became a Woman by Aiwanose Odafen | Review by Chinaza Nwaeke". BellaNaija. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
- ^ "100 Notable African Books of 2022". brittlepaper.com. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
- ^ Mag, Open Country (2022-12-29). "African Literature: The 60 Notable Books of 2022". Open Country Mag. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
- ^ Editor (2022-12-04). "Afrocritik Top 25 African Novels of 2022". Retrieved 2024-04-09.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "An interview with Aiwanose Odafen". AFREADA. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "We Were Girls Once | Aiwanose Odafen". Isele Magazine. 2024-02-08. Retrieved 2024-04-09.