Anticipating Onyeka Nwelue’s The Abyssinian Boy...

DADA Books, an imprint of Dream Arts and Design Agency, have signed a book deal with 20 year-old University of Nigeria sophomore, Onyeka Nwelue, to publish his novel, The Abyssinian Boy by December 2008.

Onyeka Nwelue was born in Nigeria in 1988. After graduating from High School at 17, he travelled to South Asia, particularly to India, where he wrote the first draft of his novel in three months. He has been published in the Guardian, The Sun, Eclectica, Nigeria Village Square, Kafla InterContinental and Wild Goose Poetry Review. He has received a grant from the Institute for Research on African Women, Children and Culture (IRAWCC) and is currently working on his second novel.

Set in India and Nigeria (and scattered locations of the world), The Abyssinian Boy is about a family whose nine year-old child gets haunted by an albino dwarf ghost.

Ayodele Arigbabu, publisher of DADA Books, refusing to comment on the terms of the deal, rather said: ‘The Abyssinian Boy lays bare the many paradoxes of culture clash with thought provoking and often amusing ironies’. Chika Unigwe, Nigerian-Belgian author of The Phoenix describes it as ‘an ambitious novel’.



DADA Books was established earlier this year and has already published performance poet- Jumoke Verissimo’s first poetry collection: I am Memory which is currently being promoted through a series of readings and performances around Nigeria.

If the progress made by I am Memory is any indicator of what to expect from the publishers of The Abyssinian Boy (which is fast becoming the most anticipated novel in India and Nigeria), then Onyeka Nwelue is off to a good start. Sources close to the author have suggested that he may have been paid a hefty advance by the publishers.

For enquiries, contact: DADA Books, 1st Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos; Tel: +234-01-7451990. E.mail: dreamarts.designage ncy@gmail. com