BLESSINGS

249pp., hardback, d.w., London, 2024

"There is an unparalleled pleasure in something short and searing. Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s debut is set in modern-day Nigeria, where the country’s criminalisation of same-sex marriage has created a hostile atmosphere for the LGBTQ+ population. After an intimate moment with the family apprentice, Obiefuna is sent to a Christian boarding school by his father. So begins a process of self-discovery. Blessings is told from Obiefuna and his mother’s perspective, a dynamic which has plenty of potential for the profound." Esquire

“Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s writing has a certain delicacy to it, so wonderfully observant, and so beautiful.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah and Purple Hibiscus

Chukwuebuka Ibeh was born in 2000 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His writing has appeared in McSweeneys, New England Review of Books and Lolwe, amongst others, and he is a staff writer at Brittle Paper. He is currently an MFA student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Blessings is his debut novel.