{{Short description|Nigerian writer (1944–2017)}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Buchi Emecheta | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} | image = Florence_Onyebuchi_"Buchi"_Emecheta_OBE_died_2017.png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta | birth_date = {{birth date|1944|07|21|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Lagos]], [[Lagos State]], Nigeria | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|01|25|1944|07|21|df=y}} | death_place = [[London]], England | occupation = Writer | education = [[Methodist Girls' High School (Lagos)|Methodist Girls' School]]<br />[[University of London]] | years_active = | notable_works = {{plainlist}} *''[[In the Ditch (novel)|In the Ditch]]'' (1972) *''[[Second Class Citizen (novel)|Second Class Citizen]]'' (1974) *''[[The Bride Price]]'' (1976) *''[[The Slave Girl (1977 novel)|The Slave Girl]]'' (1977) *''[[The Joys of Motherhood]]'' (1979) {{endplainlist}} }} '''Buchi Emecheta''' ({{Audio|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Chikeme Chizurum-Buchi Emecheta.wav|Listen|help=no}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}; born '''Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta'''; 21 July 1944 – 25 January 2017) was a Nigerian writer, whose work includes novels, plays, autobiography, and children's books.<ref name=Busby>{{cite news |authorlink=Margaret Busby |last=Busby |first=Margaret |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/buchi-emecheta-obituary |title=Buchi Emecheta obituary |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 February 2017}}</ref> She was best known for her 1974 novel, ''[[Second Class Citizen (book)|Second Class Citizen]]''. Her other novels include ''[[The Bride Price]]'' (1976), ''[[The Slave Girl (1977 novel)|The Slave Girl]]'' (1977), and ''[[The Joys of Motherhood]]'' (1979). Emecheta has been characterized as "the first successful black woman novelist living in Britain after 1948".<ref>{{cite book | last=Dawson | first=Ashley | title=Mongrel Nation: Diasporic Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Britain | chapter=Beyond Imperial Feminism: Buchi Emecheta's London Novels and Black British Women's Emancipation | publisher=University of Michigan Press | year=2007 | jstor=j.ctv3znzng.8 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv3znzng.8 | access-date=31 March 2026 | page=117}}</ref>
Born in [[Lagos, Nigeria|Lagos]], Nigeria, Emecheta wrote from her childhood experiences, where she explored child slavery, motherhood, female independence and freedom through education, and using them in her works, gained recognition from critics and honours especially with her debut novel, ''Second Class Citizen''. Her works often explore the themes of culture, and tensions between tradition and modernity.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Buchi-Emecheta|title=Buchi Emecheta {{!}} Biography, Books, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref> Most of her early novels were published by [[Allison and Busby]] with [[Margaret Busby]] as her editor.<ref name=Busby />
==Early life== Emecheta was born on 21 July 1944, in [[Lagos]], [[Colonial Nigeria]], to [[Igbo people|Igbo]] parents of [[Anioma people|Anioma]] descent.<ref name="The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_YatfLrgnMC&q=Buchi+Emecheta+21+July+1944&pg=PA164 |title=The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |year=2007 |isbn=9788126908325 |editor-last=Ray |editor-first=Mohit K. |page=164}}</ref><ref name="Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1tZoZ-GcTIC&q=Buchi+Emecheta+21+July+1944&pg=PA319 |title=Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780815314318 |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=Robert L. |page=319}}</ref> Alice Okwuekwuhe and Jeremy Nwabudinke Emecheta<ref name="Something about the Author">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGoYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Education%3A+University+of+London%2C+B.Sc.+%28with+honors%29%2C+1972%22 |title=Something about the Author |publisher=Gale Research International, Limited |year=1991 |isbn=9780810322769 |editor-last=Olendorf |editor-first=Donna |edition=illustrated |page=59}}</ref><ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&q=Buchi+Emecheta+21+July+1944&pg=PA161 |title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002 |last=Sleeman |first=Elizabeth |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2001 |isbn=9781857431223 |edition=revised |page=161}}</ref> from Umuezeokolo Odeanta village in [[Ibusa]], [[Delta State]]. Her father was a railway worker and moulder.<ref name="Something about the Author"/> Her mother, Alice Ogbanje Ojebeta Emecheta,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://dailytrust.com/buchi-emecheta-hero/ | title=Buchi Emecheta, hero | date=February 2023 |newspaper=[[Daily Trust]]}}</ref> was a former slave girl sold into slavery by her brother to a relative to buy silk head ties for his coming-of-age dance. When her mistress died, Ogbanje Emecheta returned home to freedom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Unigwe |first=Chika |date=2021-11-17 |title=The Negotiations of Buchi Emecheta |url=https://rpublc.com/october-november-2021/scanning-emecheta/ |access-date=2026-03-03 |website=The Republic |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Emecheta completed her early childhood education at an all-girls' missionary school. At nine, she lost her father, who died of the complications from a wound which he contracted in the swamps of [[Burma]], where he had been conscripted to fight for [[Lord Louis Mountbatten]] and the remnants of the [[British Empire]].<ref name="Remembering my mother">{{cite magazine|last=Onwordi|first=Sylvester|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2017/01/remembering-my-mother-buchi-emecheta-1944-2017 |title=Remembering my mother Buchi Emecheta, 1944–2017|magazine=New Statesman|date= 31 January 2017|access-date=16 November 2024}}</ref><ref name="A Study Guide for Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5WpDAAAQBAJ&q=born+21+July+1944 |title=A Study Guide for Buchi Emecheta's 'The Joys of Motherhood' |publisher=Gale Cengage Learning |year=2016 |isbn=9781410350268}}</ref> After a year, she received a fully funded scholarship to [[Methodist Girls' High School (Lagos)|Methodist Girls' School]] in [[Yaba, Lagos]], where she remained until the age of 16. During this time, her mother died, leaving Emecheta an orphan, with books and her imagination becoming her refuge.<ref name="Remembering my mother" />
==Marriage and personal life== In 1960, she married Sylvester Onwordi,<ref name="Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology"/><ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002"/> a schoolboy to whom she had been engaged since she was 11 years old.<ref name="telegraph">{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/culture-stars-died-2017/buchi-emecheta/ |title=Culture stars who died in 2017: from Doreen Keogh to Bruce Forsyth : Buchi Emecheta |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=26 January 2017 |access-date=28 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="A Study Guide for Buchi Emecheta's The Bride Price">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7EiVDAAAQBAJ&q=Buchi+Emecheta++gave+birth+to+five+children+in+six+years&pg=PT6 |title=A Study Guide for Buchi Emecheta's "The Bride Price" |publisher=Gale, Cengage Learning |year=2016 |isbn=9781410342034}}</ref> Later that year, she gave birth to a daughter, and in 1961 their younger son was born.<ref name=Busby />
Onwordi moved to London for his studies, and Emecheta joined him there with their first two children in 1962.<ref name=Busby /> In the next six years, she would give birth to five children; three daughters and two sons.<ref name="A Study Guide for Buchi Emecheta's The Bride Price"/> According to Emecheta, her marriage was an unhappy and sometimes violent one; details of which she would incorporate in her autobiographical book, ''Second Class Citizen''.<ref name=Busby /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/10/emecheta-buchi/ |title=Emecheta, Buchi {{!}} Biography|website= Postcolonial Studies|first=Benecia L. |last=Williams|publisher=Emory University|date=Fall 1997}} Updated May 2017.</ref> To keep her sanity, Emecheta wrote in her spare time. However, her husband was deeply suspicious of her writing, and he ultimately burned her first manuscript,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/emecheta-buchi|title=Buchi Emecheta Essay|publisher= eNotes.com}}</ref> ''[[The Bride Price]]'', which was eventually published in 1976. She had had to rewrite it after the earlier version was destroyed; as she later said, "There were five years between the two versions."<ref>Jussawalla, Feroza F., Reed Way Dasenbrock, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JmNRxj5pzTYC&dq=%22Interviews+with+Writers+of+the+Post-colonial+World%22+buchi+emecheta&pg=PA83 "Buchi Emecheta"], ''Interviews with Writers of the Post-colonial World'', University Press of Mississippi, 1992, p. 84.</ref>
At the age of 22, pregnant with her fifth child, Emecheta left her husband.<ref name="theguardian"/><ref>Adeleye-Fayemi, Bisi, [http://abovewhispers.com/2017/02/18/loud-whispers-first-class-citizen-buchi-emecheta-1944-2017/ "LOUD WHISPERS: The First Class Citizen (Buchi Emecheta 1944-2017)"], ''Above Whispers'', 18 February 2017.</ref> While working to support her children alone, she earned a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in sociology in 1972 from the [[University of London]].<ref name="Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology"/><ref name="Something about the Author"/><ref name="theguardian">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/26/buchi-emecheta-pioneering-nigerian-novelist-dies-aged-72 |title=Buchi Emecheta, pioneering Nigerian novelist, dies aged 72 |work=The Guardian |first=Danuta|last=Kean|date=26 January 2017 |access-date=28 January 2017}}</ref> In her 1984 autobiography, ''[[Head Above Water (book)|Head above Water]]'', she wrote: "As for my survival for the past twenty years in England, from when I was a little over twenty, dragging four cold and dripping babies with me and pregnant with a fifth one—that is a miracle."<ref>Emecheta, Buchi, ''Head Above Water'', p. 5, quoted in Stephen Jantuah Boakye, [http://www.languageinindia.com/april2013/stephenemecheta.pdf "Suspense Strategies in Buchi Emecheta's Head Above Water"], ''Language in India'', Vol. 13:4, April 2013. ISSN 1930-2940.</ref> She would go on to gain her PhD from the university in 1991.<ref name="Contemporary Authors">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GuvNSoG2WIC&q=%22Education%3A+University+of+London%2C+B.Sc.+%28with+honors%29%2C+1972%2C+Ph.D.%2C+1991.%22 |title=Contemporary Authors: Volume 126|publisher=Cengage Gale |year=2004 |isbn=9780787667184 |page=115}}</ref>
==Writing career== Keeping a diary, Emecheta typed up episodes about her experiences of [[Black British]] life and sent them to the weekly ''[[New Statesman]]'' magazine, at the time edited by [[Richard Crossman]], who in 1971 began to publish Emecheta's sketches in a regular column.<ref name=Busby /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1979/05/13/buchi-emecheta-a-nigerian-in-london/dd0cb1cd-8aa8-4069-872b-023390685ce3/|title=Buchi Emecheta: A Nigerian in London|first=Adrianne|last=Blue|date=12 May 1979|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/02/28/re-covered-in-the-ditch/|title=Re-Covered: In the Ditch|first=Lucy|last=Scholes|date=28 February 2019|access-date=3 January 2025|magazine=[[Paris Review]]}}</ref> A collection of these pieces became her first published book in 1972, ''[[In the Ditch (novel)|In the Ditch]]''<ref name="Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology"/><ref name="theguardian"/> ([[Barrie and Jenkins]]).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AklAAAAMAAJ|title=In the Ditch|publisher=Barrie and Jenkins|date=1972|isbn=9780214654138|via=Google Books}}</ref> This semi-autobiographical documentary novel<ref name="The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English"/> chronicled the struggles of a main character named Adah, who is forced to live in a housing estate while working as a librarian to support her five children.<ref name="Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology"/> Emecheta's second novel, ''Second-Class Citizen'', which also drew on her own experiences, was published two years later ([[Allison and Busby]], 1974).<ref name="bbc"/><ref>Harris, Hermione, [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030639687501600411 "Book Reviews: Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta (London, Allison and Busby, 1974)"], ''Race & Class'' ([[Institute of Race Relations]]), Vol. 16, issue 4, 1 April 1975, pp. 433–435. Via Sage Journals.</ref> In 1979, a revised edition of ''In the Ditch'' was published by Allison and Busby,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FO5AAAAIAAJ|title=In the Ditch|publisher=Allison and Busby|date=1979|edition=Revised reprint|isbn=9780850312591|via=Google Books}}</ref> where both ''In the Ditch'' and ''Second Class Citizen'' were eventually published in one volume under the title ''Adah's Story'' (1983).<ref name="British Book News">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHMsAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Buchi+Emecheta+published+Second-Class+Citizen+and+In+the+Ditch+in+one+volume+as+Adah+%27s+Story.%22 |title=British Book News |publisher=National Book League |year=1986}}</ref> These books introduced Emecheta's three major themes, which were the quest for equal treatment, self-confidence and dignity as a woman.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ghosh |first=Sukanya |date=2013-02-01 |title=Buchi Emecheta And The Exploration Of Gender And Identity In African Literature |journal=IJCRT |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1}}</ref>
Her later works ''[[Gwendolen (novel)|Gwendolen]]'' (1989, also published as ''The Family''), ''[[Kehinde (novel)|Kehinde]]'' (1994) and ''[[The New Tribe]]'' (2000) differ in some way, as they address the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain.<ref name="britannica.com"/> Most of her fictional works are focused on [[Sexism|sexual discrimination]] and racial prejudice, informed by her own experiences as both a single parent and a black woman living in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/buchi-emecheta|title=Buchi Emecheta - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=24 May 2018}}</ref>
From 1965 to 1969, Emecheta worked as a library officer for the [[British Museum]] in London.<ref name="Something about the Author"/> From 1969 to 1976, she was a youth worker and sociologist for the [[Inner London Education Authority]],<ref name="Something about the Author"/><ref>Busby, Margaret, "Buchi Emecheta", ''[[Daughters of Africa]]'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1992, p. 656.</ref> and from 1976 to 1978 she worked as a community worker in [[London Borough of Camden|Camden, North London]],<ref name="The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English"/><ref name="Something about the Author"/> while continuing to produce further novels at Allison and Busby, with Margaret Busby as her editor<ref name=Busby /> – ''The Bride Price'' (1976), ''The Slave Girl'' (1977), ''The Joys of Motherhood'' (1979) and ''[[Destination Biafra]]'' (1982) – as well as the children's books ''Titch the Cat'' (1979, based on a story by her 11-year-old daughter Alice)<ref>[https://aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/FEMECalireEN_fr.html "Buchi EMECHETA (Nigeria)"], L'AFRIQUE ECRITE AU FEMININ | Les auteures anglophones.</ref> and ''Nowhere To Play'' (1980).<ref>[https://guardian.ng/life/culture-lifestyle/buchi-emechetas-life-in-novels/ "A Life well lived – Buchi Emecheta's life in novels", ''The Guardian'' (Nigeria), 26 January 2017.]</ref>
Following Emecheta's success as an author, she travelled widely as a visiting professor and lecturer. She visited several American universities, including [[Pennsylvania State University]], [[Rutgers University]], the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], and the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]].<ref name="Something about the Author"/><ref name="Society and Solitude">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGLWAAAAMAAJ&q=%22+Emecheta+has+been+a+visiting+professor+or+lecturer+at+a+dozen+American+universities%2C+including+Penn+State%2C+University+of%22 |title=Society and Solitude |publisher=University Press of America |year=1997 |isbn=9780761801290 |edition=2 |page=241}}</ref> From 1980 to 1981, she was senior resident fellow and visiting professor of English at the [[University of Calabar]], Nigeria.<ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002"/> From 1982 to 1983, Emecheta, together with her son Sylvester, ran the Ogwugwu Afor Publishing Company, producing her own work under the imprint,<ref name="theguardian"/> beginning with ''[[Double Yoke]]'' (1982).<ref>{{cite news|last=Fraser|first=C. Gerald|author-link=C. Gerald Fraser|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/02/books/writer-her-dream-fulfilled-seeks-to-link-two-worlds.html |title=Writer, Her Dream Fulfilled, Seeks to Link Two Worlds|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= 2 June 1990}}</ref> She received an [[Arts Council of Great Britain]] bursary, 1982–83,<ref name="The Atlantic Companion to Literature in English"/><ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002"/> and was one of ''[[Granta]]'' magazine's "Best of Young British Novelists" in 1983.<ref name="theguardian"/> In 1982, she lectured at [[Yale University]], and the [[University of London]].<ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002"/> She became a Fellow at the University of London in 1986.<ref name="International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phhhHT64kIMC&q=Buchi+Emecheta+fellowship+at+the+University+of+London+in+1986.&pg=PA162 |title=International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2003 |isbn=9781857431797 |edition=revised |page=162}}</ref>
Over her career, Emecheta worked with many cultural and literary organizations, including the [[Africa Centre, London]], and with the [[Caine Prize for African Writing]] as a member of the Advisory Council.<ref>The Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing, [http://caineprize.com/blog/2017/1/27/tribute-to-buchi-emecheta-1944-2017 "Tribute to Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017)"], Caine Prize blog, 1 February 2017.</ref>
==Death== Emecheta suffered a [[stroke]] in 2010,<ref name="theguardian"/> and her last years were marked by increasing disability and illness.<ref name="Remembering my mother" /> She died in London on 25 January 2017, aged 72.<ref name="theguardian"/><ref name="bbc">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38757048 |title=Buchi Emecheta: Nigerian author who championed girls dies aged 72 |work=BBC News|date=26 January 2017 |access-date=28 January 2017}}</ref>
==Awards and recognition== Emecheta won the 1978 [[Jock Campbell, Baron Campbell of Eskan|Jock Campbell]] Prize by the ''[[New Statesman]]''.<ref name=Busby /><ref>{{cite book | last1=Amoia | first1=Alba | last2=Knapp | first2=Bettina L. | title=Multicultural Writers Since 1945: An A-to-Z Guide | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | date=30 March 2004 | isbn=978-0-313-30688-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UUUHP3Mg0IC&dq=%2522jock+Campbell+Prize%2522+%2522arrow+of+god%2522&pg=PA26 | access-date=31 March 2026 | page=26}}</ref> She was on ''[[Granta]]''{{!}}s [[Granta#Granta Best of Young British Novelists|Best of Young British Novelists]] in 1983.<ref name="theguardian"/><ref>{{cite web | title=Buchi Emecheta | website=Encyclopedia.com | date=23 May 2018 | url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/miscellaneous-english-literature-20th-cent-biographies/buchi-emecheta#2590000207 | access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref> She became a member of the [[British Home Secretary]]'s Advisory Council on Race in 1979.<ref name="The International Who's Who of Women 2002" />
In September 2004, Emecheta appeared in the "A Great Day in London" photograph by the [[British Library]], featuring 50 Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature.<ref>{{cite web | last=Levy | first=Andrea | title=Made in Britain | website=[[The Guardian]]| date=18 September 2004 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/sep/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview33 | access-date=31 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Le Gendre|first=Kevin|author-link=Kevin Le Gendre|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-great-day-for-a-family-get-together-29121.html|title= Books: A great day for a family get together Who are the movers and shakers in black British writing? And can they all fit on one staircase?|newspaper=[[The Independent|The Independent on Sunday]]|date=17 October 2004}}</ref> In 2005, she was conferred as an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] for her services to literature.<ref name="theguardian"/> She received an honorary doctorate of literature from [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] in 1992.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Jagne | first1=Siga Fatima | last2=Parekh | first2=Pushpa Naidu | title=Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook | publisher=Routledge | date=12 November 2012 | isbn=978-1-136-59397-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3iibMu0Qjs8C&dq=emecheta+farleigh+university+honorary+doctorate&pg=PA149 | access-date=31 March 2026 | page=149}}</ref>
==Legacy== In 2017, Emecheta's son Sylvester Onwordi announced the formation of the Buchi Emecheta Foundation – a charitable organisation promoting literary and educational projects in the UK and in Africa<ref>{{cite web|title=Vlog: British-Nigerian author's books set for February 2018 revamp|url=https://msbwrites.co.uk/2017/07/08/vlog-british-nigerian-authors-books-set-for-february-2018-revamp/|website=msbwrites.co.uk|date=8 July 2017 |access-date=22 June 2019}}</ref> – which was launched in London on 3 February 2018 at the [[Brunei Gallery]], [[SOAS]], together with new editions of several of her books published by Onwordi through his Omenala Press.<ref>{{cite web|last=Onwordi|first=Sylvester|url=https://www.ktravula.com/2017/11/buchi-emecheta-foundation-and-omenela-press-created-to-preserve-a-legacy/ |title=Buchi Emecheta Foundation and Omenela Press created to Preserve a Legacy|website= KTravula.com|date=20 November 2017|access-date=16 November 2024}}</ref><ref>[http://www.royalafricansociety.org/event/celebrating-buchi-emecheta "Celebrating Buchi Emecheta"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622213215/http://www.royalafricansociety.org/event/celebrating-buchi-emecheta |date=22 June 2019 }}, Royal African Society</ref><ref>[https://www.buchiemecheta.co.uk/1300-2/ "Celebrating Buchi Emecheta – February Event"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309112240/https://www.buchiemecheta.co.uk/1300-2/ |date=9 March 2021 }}. Buchi Emecheta website.</ref> Among participants in the "Celebrating Buchi Emecheta" day-long event<ref>{{cite web|url=https://angelacobbinah.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/buchi-emechata-keeping-her-legacy-alive/|title=Buchi Emechata: keeping her legacy alive|first=Angela|last=Cobbinah|website=Angela Cobbinah|date=19 February 2018}}</ref> – "a gathering of writers, critics, artists, publishers, literature enthusiasts and cultural activists from all over the world, including London and other parts of the U.K., France, Germany, U.S., Canada, Nigeria, [[Ghana]], [[Kenya]], [[South Africa]], and the [[Caribbean]]" – were [[Diane Abbott]], [[Leila Aboulela]], [[Carole Boyce Davies]], [[Margaret Busby]], [[James Currey]], [[Louisa Uchum Egbunike]], [[Ernest Emenyonu]], [[Akachi Ezeigbo]], [[Kadija George]], [[Mpalive Msiska]], [[Grace Nichols]], [[Alastair Niven]], [[Irenosen Okojie]], [[Veronique Tadjo]], Marie Linton Umeh, [[Wangui wa Goro]], and [[Bibi Bakare-Yusuf]].<ref>Ezeigbo, Akachi, [https://guardian.ng/art/celebrating-buchi-emecheta-in-london-a-year-after/ "Celebrating Buchi Emecheta in London a year after"], ''The Guardian'' (Nigeria), 11 February 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Cobbinah|first=Angela|url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/how-african-writer-gave-women-and-girls-a-voice |title=How African writer gave women and girls a voice|newspaper=[[Camden New Journal]]|date=16 February 2018|access-date=30 January 2026}}</ref>
Emecheta features at number 98 on a list of 100 women recognised in August 2018 by ''[[BBC History Magazine]]'' as having changed the world.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hampson|first= Laura|author2=Gareth Richman|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/worlds-most-influential-women-in-history-a3906936.html |title=20 of the most significant women in history|newspaper=[[Evening Standard]]|date=9 August 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://www.historyextra.com/100-women/100-women-results/ "100 Women Who Changed the World: the results"], ''History Extra'', 9 August 2018.</ref>
In March 2019, [[Camden Town Brewery]] launched a football kit using artwork featuring "some of the most inspiring female icons to have influenced the brewery's home borough of Camden".<ref>[https://london-post.co.uk/women-of-camden-how-a-football-kit-became-a-work-of-art/ "Women of Camden – How a football kit became a work of art"], ''London Post'', 5 March 2019.</ref>
On 21 July 2019, which would have been Emecheta's 75th birthday,<ref>Adekunle, [https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/07/google-doodle-celebrates-buchi-emecheta-75th-posthumous-birthday/ "Google doodle celebrates Buchi Emecheta 75th posthumous birthday"], ''Vanguard'', 21 July 2019.</ref> [[Google]] commemorated her life with a [[Google doodle|Doodle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/buchi-emechetas-75th-birthday/|title=Buchi Emecheta's 75th Birthday|website=Google|date=21 July 2019}}</ref><ref>Perrone, Alessio, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/buchi-emecheta-google-doodle-today-who-author-books-nigeria-uk-a9014131.html "Buchi Emecheta: Google Doodle celebrates prolific British-Nigerian author"], ''The Independent'', 21 July 2019.</ref><ref>Mackrell, Daniel, [https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/21/buchi-emecheta-todays-google-doodle-10433880/ "Who is Buchi Emecheta and why is she today's Google Doodle?"], ''Metro'', 21 July 2019.</ref><ref>[https://punchng.com/google-doodle-celebrates-buchi-emecheta-75th-posthumous-birthday/ "Google Doodle celebrates Buchi Emecheta on 75th posthumous birthday"], ''The Punch'' (Nigeria), 21 July 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-49061847 "Google Doodle: 5 tins to sabi about Buchi Emecheta"], BBC News, Pidgin, 21 July 2019.</ref>
In October 2019, a new exhibition space in the library for students at [[Goldsmiths, University of London]], was dedicated to Buchi Emecheta, marked by a reception with short talks by Goldsmiths warden [[Frances Corner]] and the Head of Library Services, Leo Appleton, preceding an address by Margaret Busby.<ref>[https://www.goldsmithssu.org/ents/event/2733/ "Buchi Emecheta Space Opening and Present Futures Exhibition"], Goldsmiths Students' Union, 23 October 2019.</ref><ref>Gabi-Williams, Olatoun, [https://guardian.ng/art/when-goldsmiths-college-honoured-buchi-emecheta/ "When Goldsmiths College honoured Buchi Emecheta"], ''The Guardian'' (Nigeria), 24 November 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sites.gold.ac.uk/library-blog/celebrating-buchi-emecheta/ |title=Celebrating Buchi Emecheta|website= Library blog|publisher= Goldsmiths University of London|date= 29 November 2019|access-date=12 February 2024}}</ref>
In October 2021, Emecheta's second novel, ''Second Class Citizen'', was reissued as a [[Penguin Modern Classic]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/31/second-class-citizen-by-buchi-emecheta-review-fresh-and-timeless|title=Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta review – fresh and timeless|first=John|last=Self|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=31 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/445350/second-class-citizen-by-emecheta-buchi/9780241532683|title=Buchi Emecheta {{!}} Second-Class Citizen|date=7 October 2021 |publisher=[[Penguin Books Limited]]|access-date=23 August 2022}}</ref> as was ''In the Ditch'' in 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/04/in-the-ditch-by-buchi-emecheta-review-a-documentary-novel-from-the-1970s|title=In the Ditch by Buchi Emecheta review – 'a documentary novel' from the 1970s|first=Ellen |last=Peirson-Hagger|newspaper=The Observer|date=4 September 2023}}</ref>
==Works== {{main|Buchi Emecheta bibliography}} '''Novels''' * ''[[In the Ditch (novel)|In the Ditch]]'' (1972) * ''[[Second Class Citizen (novel)|Second Class Citizen]]'' (1974) * ''[[The Bride Price]]'' (1976) * ''[[The Slave Girl (1977 novel)|The Slave Girl]]'' (1977) * ''[[The Joys of Motherhood]]'' (1979) * ''[[The Moonlight Bride]]'' (1981) * ''[[Destination Biafra]]'' (1982) * ''[[Naira Power]]'' (1982) * ''[[The New Tribe]]'' (2000)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * Ben-Iheanacho, Elizabeth O. (10 November 2021), [https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2021/tracing-emechetas-influence/ "Where Are the 'Daughters' of Emecheta?"], ''The Republic'' (Nigeria), Vol. 5, No. 4, October/November 2021. * Curry, Ginette. [https://www.amazon.com/Awakening-African-Women-Dynamics-Change/dp/190430334X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1492886149&sr=8-2&keywords=ginette+curry ''Awakening African Women: The Dynamics of Change'']. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2004. * Petersen, Kirsten Holst. [https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&u=webdemo&id=GALE%7CH1200003959&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-GLS&asid=c0cfd2dd "(Florence) (Onye) Buchi Emecheta"]. Twentieth-Century Caribbean and Black African Writers: First Series, edited by Bernth Lindfors and Reinhard Sander, Gale, 1992. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' Vol. 117. Gale Literature Resource Center. * Umeh, Marie (ed.), ''Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta'' (Foreword by Margaret Busby), Africa World Press, 1996. {{ISBN|9780865434554}}. * [[Chika Unigwe|Unigwe, Chika]]. [https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-477 "Emecheta, Buchi"]. ''Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History''. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
==External links== {{sister project links|d=Q461675|c=Category:Buchi Emecheta|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}} {{Scholia|topic}} * [http://www.pressreader.com/nigeria/sunday-trust/20170205/282613147516175 "Buchi Emecheta - Five books in tribute"], ''Sunday Trust'', 5 February 2017. * {{British council|id=buchi-emecheta|name=Buchi Emecheta}} * Buchi Emecheta bio at [https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/womenwriters/emechetta_work.shtml the BBC Worldwide]. * Buchi Emecheta page at [https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/10/emecheta-buchi/ Emory University]. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715200408/http://www.original.rolandcollection.com/rolandcollection/literature/101/W100.htm The Roland Collection of Films & Videos on Art]. Writers Talk: Ideas of our Time – Buchi Emecheta speaks with [[Susheila Nasta]]. * [http://www.sablelitmag.org/home/buchi-emecheta/ Buchi Emecheta page] at ''Sable''. * [[Margaret Busby]], [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/20/where-to-start-with-buchi-emecheta "Where to start with: Buchi Emecheta"], ''The Guardian'', 20 March 2024. * [[Ira Mathur]], [https://www.guardian.co.tt/article/buchi-emechetas-storylagos-to-london-6.2.2449731.089b460870#google_vignette "Buchi Emecheta’s Story—Lagos to London"], ''[[Trinidad & Tobago Guardian]]'', 15 November 2025.
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