An author knows they’ve hit the big time when they are namedropped in The Simpsons. Ben Okri has truly made the crossover between African literature and popular culture and comfortably inhabits both spaces as The Famished Road is gifted to the local bartender, Moe.
The gift is one of several books; some of Nigeria’s “most beloved, albeit depressing literature.” Okri’s 1991 novel appears alongside other such Nigerian literary heavyweights as Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Home and Exile and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck. It is hard to say which is the greater accolade: The booker Prize or a mention in The Simpsons. Don’t forget, Okri will be down from the dizzying heights of Simpsons fame for Africa Writes 2015.
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