Event Details

                                        Okechukwu Nzelu reads and discusses his debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, on Tuesday 26th October from 5-6...

Okechukwu Nzelu reads and discusses his debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, on Tuesday 26th October from 5-6.30 pm (BST) at an open-to-all free online event as part of the Lancaster University Library's Black History Month celebrations.

The Library have a number of free copies of Okechukwu’s novel to give away to staff and students wanting to attend the author event and/ or participate in a reading group after the event. Request your copy by emailing Lesley English.

How do you begin to find yourself when you only know half of who you are?

As Nnenna Maloney approaches adulthood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, whom Joanie refuses to discuss.

Nnenna is asking big questions about how to 'be' when she doesn't know the whole of who she is. Meanwhile, Joanie wonders how to love when she has never truly been loved. Their lives are filled with a cast of characters asking similar questions about identity and belonging whilst grappling with the often hilarious encounters of everyday Manchester.

Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a funny and heart-warming story that covers the expanse of race, gender, class, family and redemption, with a fresh and distinctive new voice.

'Nzelu writes with a witty confidence rarely seen in debut fiction. Smart, serious and entertaining, I expect this book to have wide appeal and for the writer to go far.'

Bernardine Evaristo, author of Booker-shortlisted novel, Girl, Woman, Other

‘a vivid picture of people seeking security and identity in the maze of modern-day England. This is fiction as sculpture: skilfully paring down a scene to reveal the shape of the pain hidden within. Jonathan’s search for validation, and Nnenna’s drive to create an identity for herself, are moving and relatable stories, intimately told’.

Guardian

'Okechukwu writes with confidence, wit and humour. Unforgettable characters and a voice that stays with you even after the final page. Edifying and hilarious, The Private of Joys of Nnenna Maloney is a beautiful debut that you won't want to put down'.

Derek Owusu, writer, poet and podcaster

About the author

Photo by Martin Glackin

Okechukwu Nzelu is a Manchester-based writer. In 2015 he was the recipient of a Northern Writers' Award from New Writing North. In 2020 his debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books/Little,Brown), won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Polari First Book Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read. He is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine. His second novel, Here Again Now, will be published by Dialogue Books/Little,Brown in March 2022. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. To find out more visit https://www.nzelu.org