Okwiri Oduor

Okwiri Oduor was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1989. She studied Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2014 with her short story »My Father’s Head«. The protagonist Simbi works in a retirement home. An encounter with a visiting clergyman who gives a sermon there makes Simbi think back to her deceased father. She tries to draw a picture of him but can barely remember the shape of his head. The more intensely she thinks back to her father, the more memories are awakened – including dark and difficult ones.

Oduor’s debut novel »Things They Lost«, which is populated by wondrous creatures, was published in 2022. Set in the late 1980s in the fictional Kenyan town of Mapeli, it tells the story of twelve-year-old Ayosa, who has psychic abilities; she can communicate with spirits and relives the memories of her ancestors. In her loneliness – her mother comes and goes as she pleases – wondrous beings become her companions. Slowly, Ayosa begins to get to the bottom of her family history. With many references to African mythology, but also to current events, Oduor tells of colonialism, violence, and transgenerational transmission.

Okwiri Oduor lebt derzeit in Tunesien.

Things They Lost
Scribner
New York City, 2022