BETTER NEVER THAN LATE

124pp., paperback, Abuja & London, 2019

A collection of interconnected stories about the experiences of Nigerian migrants making their way in Europe, centred around a woman and her husband and the visitors who meet at their apartment in Belgium.

"This collection ...is so wry and so generous, so astute about human deeds and misdeeds. Under Unigwe's masterful hands, relationships - between Nigerians and Belgians, Naijas and Oyibo, priests and parish, bosses and workers, men and women, parents and children, friends and rivals - are struck, ignite, flicker to life like flames in a candelabra. The circle of light that Better Never Than Late casts is delicate and lucid, warm as a spot of sun or a hearth - which is to say, warm as a home." Namwali Serpell, author of The Old Drift

“Chika Unigwe writes radiant fiction about Nigerian characters and their encounters with Europe and its ideologies. This essential book shines a light on personal experiences of migration in ways that illuminate and surprise.” Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other

“Chika Unigwe writes beautifully of love, loss and the cultural and racial confusions that continue to trouble her.” Caryl Phillips, author of Crossing the River

Chika Unigwe was born in 1974 in Nigeria. She is the author of four novels, including On Black Sisters' Street and Black Messiah, and won the 2012 Nigeria Prize for Literature. Previously based in Belgium, she emigrated to the United States in 2013. where she was appointed as the Bonderman Professor for Creative Writing at Brown University in Rhode Island.