Flora Nwapa

Flora Nwapa, 1987 (still image from Norwegian documentary Forfatterinne i dag) On 16 October 1993, Nigerian author, teacher, and administrator Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa - more commonly known as Flora Nwapa - died of pneumonia at a hospital in Enugu, Nigeria, at the age of 62. She was the forerunner of a generation of African women writers, and she is often credited with being the first African woman to publish in English. While never considering herself a feminist, she was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman's viewpoint.

Flora Nwapa was born on 13 January 1931 in Oguta, Nigeria. She was educated in Ogula, Port Harcourt, and Lagos before attending University College in Ibadan, Nigeria (1953–57), and the University of Edinburgh. She worked as a teacher and administrator in Nigeria from 1959 until the Nigerian-Biafran War erupted in 1967. After the war she was Minister of Health and Social Welfare in East Central State (1970–71), and subsequently Minister of Lands, Survey and Urban Development (1971–74).

Flora Nwapa was one of the first African women publishers. In 1974, she founded Tana Press, and in 1977 the Flora Nwapa Company, publishing her own adult and children's literature as well as works by other writers.

As a novelist Nwapa made her debut with Efuru, published by Heinemann Educational Books in 1966. It was followed by the other novels such as Idu (1970), Never Again (1975), One is Enough (1981), and Women are Different (1986). She also published two collections of stories, a volume of poems and several books for children.

Source: Wikipedia