Butterfly Fish

Description

Review "Butterfly Fish is a novel of epic proportions... From sentence to sentence, Okojie conjures up acutely observed, beautifully-worded metaphors that resonate and delight... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list. It is a fascinating read, and one I highly recommend." --Yvette Edwards (author of A Cupboard Full of Coats), Words of Colour"Butterfly Fish is a novel of epic proportions... From sentence to sentence, Okojie conjures up acutely observed, beautifully-worded metaphors that resonate and delight... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list. It is a fascinating read, and one I highly recommend." --Words of Colour"Her West African heritage is richly spun into her novel Butterfly Fish. The story skips between London and rural Benin, to the interwoven lives of a young village girl and an African king. The tale is peppered with moments of magical surrealism: a glass bottle shattering on a South London street to release two tiny scurrying figures into the night; a butterfly fish bursts into a local pool and belches a portentous brass key." --Evening Standard"Her novel tells a gripping tale that takes us on a journey with main character, Joy, as she deals with the sudden death of her mother. As her protagonist unfolds the mystery behind an inherited brass warrior's head from a king in eighteenth century Benin, and a beautiful familiar woman floating in her photographs, Okojie's story unearths a complicated past filled with family secrets, political upheaval, love and hope." --African Arguments About the Author Irenosen Okojie is author of lauded debut novel Butterfly Fish and short story collection Speak Gigantular. She is a curator and Arts Project Manager, and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Southbank Centre, and the Caine Prize. Her writing has been featured in the Guardian and the Observer. Her short stories have been published internationally, including the Kwani 07 and Phatitude. She was a selected writer by Theatre Royal Stratford East and Writer in Residence for TEDx East End. In 2014, she was the Prize Advocate for the SI Leeds Literary Prize. She is a mentor for the Pen to Print project supported by publisher Constable & Robinson.