THE ROAD TO THE SALT SEA, a novel

289pp., paperback, Amistad, New York, 2025

ISBN: 9780063050880

Winner of the 2025 Whiting Award for Fiction.

A debut novel that explores the global migration crisis.

Forced to flee Nigeria, Able God joins a group of migrants and makes the perilous journey to Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

"The Road to the Salt Sea tells the story of one man's impossible emotional and physical journey as he fights for the life that he deserves in the face of extraordinary circumstances. It's also a suspenseful, profound and moving page-turner. This novel reads like a fable and a contemporary classic all at once." Maria Kuznetsova, author of Oksana, Behave! and Something Unbelievable

"Kóláwolé's portrait of moral degradation is memorable, as Able God is forced to abandon his virtues one by one for the sake of survival . . . He’s one of countless refugees seeking a new life, but his trials are singular and harrowing" Kirkus Reviews

Samuel Kóláwolé was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. He studied at the University of Ibadan and earned his PhD in English and Creative Writing from Georgia State University. He is Assistant Professor of English and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University and recently joined the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers as a faculty member.