Library Weekly

On 7 March 1968, the British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays, Sarah Ladipo Manyika was born in Nigeria. She is the author of two well-received novels, 'In Dependence' (2009) and 'Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun' (2016), as well as the non-fiction collection 'Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora' (2022). Her writing has appeared in publications including Granta, Transition, Guernica, and OZY. Manyika's work also features in the 2019 anthology 'New Daughters of Africa'.

Manyika's non-fiction writing includes personal essays, book reviews, and in-depth profiles. For example, her essay 'Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie' tells of her worries about raising her son in modern America. Her profile subjects include a piece on Toni Morrison for The Washington Post and Michelle Obama for Granta.

Manyika's short story 'Mr Wonder' appeared in the 2008 collection 'Women Writing Zimbabwe'. Her first novel, 'In Dependence', was chosen by the UK's largest bookstore chain as its featured book for Black History Month. In 2009, 'In Dependence', was published by Cassava Republic, a literary press based in Abuja, Nigeria (as well as, latterly, in the UK), with a stable of authors that includes Teju Cole and Helon Habila. Speaking of her decision to sign with an African publisher, Manyika has said: "I realized that by granting world rights to an African publisher I could, in a small way, attempt to address the imbalance of power in a world where the gatekeepers of literature, even for so-called African stories, remain firmly rooted in the west."

(Source: Wikipedia, accessed on 28 February 2024)

Selected Publications

Her own works

Novels
Manyika, Sarah Ladipo, Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, Cassava Republic, 2016.

Manyika, Sarah Ladipo, In Dependence, Legend Press, 2008.

Non-Ficition

Manyika, Sarah Ladipo, Between Starshine and Clay : Conversations from the African Diaspora, Footnote, 2022.

Selected essays
“On Meeting Margaret Busby” Granta, 19 October 2020.

“What James Baldwin Means To Me” Brittle Paper, 4 March 2019.

“On Meeting Toni Morrison” Transition (124): 138-147.

“Betting on Africa” Brittle Paper, 28 March 2016.

Secondary Literature

Gleibermann, Erik, and Sarah Ladipo Manyika, “Cross-Cultural Romance with Global Itinerary: A Conversation with Sarah Ladipo Manyika.” World Literature Today, vol. 94, no. 1, 2020, pp. 46–49.

Ghosh, Subham, and Smriti Singh, “Towards a Cosmopolitan Worldview: Investigating the Process of de-Bordering through Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s In Dependence.” African Identities, 2023, pp. 1–13.

Sousa, Sandra, “The Nigerian Diaspora in the United States and Afropolitanism in Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun.” African Studies Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, 2019, pp. 39–53.
 

Sarah Ladipo Manyika with Vendela Vida / Between Starshine and Clay, January 31, 2023

For more information, you can visit her website.