National Book Awareness Week:Omenuko

Omenuko

Omenuko by Pita Nwana (by trade a carpenter) is the first novel to be written in the Igbo language, and the book was very successful among the Igbo people. The book tells the life story of the politician Igwegbe Odum, an Aro Igbo who migrated to Arondizuogu.

Written in 1933, it won a prize in a competition run by the International African Institute and is the biography of the eponymous slave-dealer, originally being publisher in 1935.

References

·  Ricard, Alain (2004). The languages & literatures of Africa: the sands of Babel. James Currey Publishers. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-85255-581-1.

·  ·  Nwana, Pita (2004) [First published in 1933]. Omenuko. Translated by Frances W. Pritchett. Retrieved 2 September 2011.

·  ·  Campbell, George L (1998). Concise compendium of the world's languages. Routledge. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-415-16049-0.

·  ·  Obiechina, Emmanuel N (1973). An African popular literature: a study of Onitsha market pamphlets. CUP Archive. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-521-09744-4.

5.      ·  Dathorne, O.R. (1975). African literature in the twentieth century. University of Minnesota Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8166-0769-3.