Reading by Chris Abani & Doreen Baingana November 2, 2006

Becoming Abigail is written in spare, lyrical prose. Tough, spirited, and fiercely independent, Abigail is brought to London from Nigeria as a teenager by relatives who attempt to force her into prostitution. She flees, struggling to find herself in the shadow of her dead mother. Abigail tries to save the one lover she has chosen in her short life, her social worker: now disgraced and facing charges. A Nigerian poet, Abani is the author of the PEN Hemingway Award-winning novel, Graceland.

In her incandescent fiction debut, Baingana follows a Ugandan girl as she tentatively navigates adolescence after the fall of Idi Amin. Mostly set in pastoral Entebbe, Tropical Fish poignantly depicts Christine Mugisha and her family’s harsh life as they struggle with Uganda's collapsing infrastructure and food shortages. “Baingana's richly detailed stories are lush with cultural commentary.”—Publishers Weekly Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan poet and novelist, and was shortlisted for the Caine Prize. Cosponsored with TransAfrica Forum.

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