A Letter Away From Asaba: A Novella

Product Information

A second-year History and Politics student at the University of Edinburgh, Claudia is also one of the youngest published authors in Scotland. Next month, her novel, A Letter Away from Asaba, is set to debut, delving into a turbulent episode of Nigerian history that is poorly understood by many in the United Kingdom today. Although her novel is a work of historical fiction, it is based on real events that unfolded during the Asaba Massacre of 1967, which took place during the Nigerian Civil War. Perhaps it is not surprising that very little is known about the massacre in the UK today - indeed, there was precious little publicly available information about it at the time. Censorship within the British press played a significant role in throwing up a smokescreen, and this became a key theme in the novel. Onome is an international student from Nigeria studying law at King’s College London, whilst her friend Chioma lives in Asaba. The story centres on these two protagonists, as they attempt to piece together what really happened at Asaba through a series of diary entries and letters. When did you first learn about the Asaba massacre, and what were your main motivations to write a novel about it? What wider themes does it represent in history? Overall, this is a great book to educate yourself on the Nigerian Civil War and understand the effects that it has on individual people. I first read a book by two American scholars, The Asaba Massacre: Trauma, Memory and the Nigerian Civil War while I was doing IB. Immediately, I was stunned by the massacre, so I wrote a paper about it. In the following written exchange, Claudia shares some insight into the writing process behind A Letter Away from Asaba, and offers advice to aspiring writers.

I think there’s a staffing issue. There’s only so much you can decolonise if you don’t have people that specialise in certain areas. There are scholars out there, but you don’t see them at our university, or really the UK in general. America seems to have a lot more diversity in what they offer. Also reading lists; I am taking a course about contemporary Africa, and we had a reading list where every author was a white man. I think diverse reading lists are so important because not only does it enrich your knowledge, but it also introduces you to so many different perspectives.Advocate: We advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion within the university and society at large. How difficult was it getting the novel published? Did people take you less seriously because you are a university student?

You are slowly turning into one of them. A descendant of colonist who belittle our continent and undermine our experiences to doge responsibility for their despicable actions. "Wow. Just wow. The talented Claudia Efemini has written a beautiful novel that shines a lot on an important topic that, unfortunately, not many are knowledgeable about or have had the chance to be informed on. It was extremely hard to put this book down and 10x harder to not think about the story and its characters throughout the day. Claudia Efemini has created something that everyone should read, if only to learn a pivotal part in Nigerian history. Thank you Retrospect Journal HCA for recognising the importance of this book and announcing it on your platform. I’ve included a quote at the beginning of this post that I wrote in the article, which really encapsulates my motivation for writing this book. The article provides a deeper insight into why I wrote the book and what the book is about in brief. Here is the link to the article: https://lnkd.in/e7U-ZXHV