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Secondary Sources

Articles & Essays    |    Entries in Encyclopedias & Reference Works
Dissertations    |    Study Guides    |    Profiles    |    Reviews    |    Miscellaneous

 

Articles & Essays

  • Adéčkó, Adélékč, 'Power Shift: America in the New Nigerian Imagination', Global South 2.2 (Fall 2008), pp. 10-30. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Aycock, Amanda, 'Becoming Black and Elvis: Transnational and Performative Identity in the Novels of Chris Abani', Safundi 10.1 (January 2009), pp. 11-25. On GraceLand and The Virgin of Flames.
  • Andrade, Susan Z. 'Representing Slums and Home: Chris Abani's GraceLand', in The Legacies of Modernism: Historicising Postwar and Contemporary Fiction, ed. David James (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 225-242.
  • Dalley, Hamish, 'Trauma Theory and Nigerian Civil War Literature: Speaking "something that was never in words" in Chris Abani's Song for Night', Journal of Postcolonial Writing, forthcoming. Already available to subscribers via iFirst.
  • Dannenberg, Hilary, 'Narrating the Postcolonial Metropolis in Anglophone African Fiction: Chris Abani's GraceLand and Phaswane Mpe's Welcome to Our Hillbrow', Journal of Postcolonial Writing 48.1 (February 2012), pp. 39–50.
  • Dawson, Ashley, 'Surplus City: Structural Adjustment, Self-Fashioning, and Urban Insurrection in Chris Abani's Graceland', Interventions 11.1 (March 2009), pp. 16-34.
  • Dawson, Ashley, 'Cargo Culture: Literature in an Age of Mass Displacement', WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 38.1&2 (Spring-Summer 2010), pp. 178-193. Includes a discussion of Becoming Abigail.
  • Deandrea, Pietro, 'Unravelling Unpersons: Inscribing the Voice of Contemporary Slavery in the UK', Textus: English Studies in Italy 22.3 (2009), pp. 665-680. Includes a discussion of Becoming Abigail.
  • Dike, Virginia W., 'Growing Up on the Hard Side: Male Adolescent Experience in Contemporary Nigeria', Sankofa: A Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature 7 (2008), pp. 23-31. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Etter-Lewis, Gwendolyn, 'Dark Bodies/White Masks: African Masculinities and Visual Culture in Graceland, The Joys of Motherhood and Things Fall Apart', in Masculinities in African Literary and Cultural Texts, ed. Helen Nabasuta Mugambi & Tuzyline Jita Allan (Banbury: Ayebia Clarke, 2010), pp. 160-177.
  • Eze, Chielozona, 'Cosmopolitan Solidarity: Negotiating Transculturality in Contemporary Nigerian Novels', English in Africa 32.1 (May 2005), pp. 99-112. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Gehrmann, Susanne, 'The Child Soldier's Soliloquy: Voices of a New Archetype in African Writing', Études littéraires africaines 32 (2011), pp. 31-43. Includes a discussion of Song for Night (pp. 40-42).
  • Giommi, Francesca, 'Negotiating Freedom on Scarred Bodies: Chris Abani's Novellas', in Experiences of Freedom in Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures, ed. Annalisa Oboe & Shaul Bassi (Abingdon & New York: Routledge, 2011), pp. 176-184. On Becoming Abigail and Song for Night.
  • Gualtieri, Claudia, 'Agire nel mondo: Chris Abani, scrittore tra tradizione e cosmopolitismo, Mondi migranti: Rivista di studi e ricerche sulle migrazioni internazionali 1 (2012), pp. 137-149. In Italian.
  • Hanif, Samia, Vision of the Post Colonial World in New Nigerian Fiction: A Literary Analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila and Chris Abani's Selected Works (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012), passim. Print-on-demand publisher.
  • Harrison, Sarah K., '"Suspended City": Personal, Urban, and National Development in Chris Abani's Graceland', Research in African Literatures 43.2 (Summer 2012), pp. 95-114.
  • Harrow, Kenneth, 'Sur l'impossibilité de représenter l'enfant-soldat dans Song for Night de Chris Abani', Études littéraires africaines 32 (2011), pp. 78-90. In French.
  • Hendrick, Veronica C., 'Negotiating Nigeria: Connecting Chris Abani's GraceLand to Africa's Past', in Emerging African Voices: A Study of Contemporary African Literature, ed. Walter P. Collins (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2010), pp. 75-99.
  • Kattanek, Sita Maria, 'The Nigerian Coming-of-Age Novel as a Globalization Device: A Reading of Chris Abani's GraceLand', Rupkatha: Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 3.3 (2011), pp. 426-433. [ available online ]
  • Kearney, J.A., 'The Representation of Child Soldiers in Contemporary African Fiction', Journal of Literary Studies 26.1 (March 2010), pp. 67-94. Includes a discussion of Song for Night.
  • Krishnan, Madhu, 'Biafra and the Aesthetics of Closure in the Third Generation Nigerian Novel', Rupkatha: Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 2.2 (2010), pp. 185-195. Includes a discussion of GraceLand. [ available online ]
  • Krishnan, Madhu, 'Beyond Tradition and Progress: Re-imagining Nigeria in Chris Abani's GraceLand', Anglistica 15.1 (2011), pp. 97-106. [ available online ]
  • Krishnan, Madhu, 'Mami Wata and the Occluded Feminine in Anglophone Nigerian-Igbo Literature', Research in African Literatures 43.1 (Spring 2012), pp. 1-18. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Krishnan, Madhu, 'Of Masquerades and Mimicry: Performance, Identity, and Tradition in Chris Abani's The Virgin of Flames', Ariel 43.2 (2012), pp. 45-68.
  • Lambert, Iain, 'Chris Abani's Graceland and Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation: Nonstandard English, Intertextuality and Ken Saro-Wiwa's Sozaboy', Language and Literature 20.4 (November 2011), pp. 283-294.
  • Luburić-Cvijanović, Arijana, 'Innocence and Experience: Echoes of William Blake and Ágota Kristóf in Chris Abani's Song for Night', in English Language and Anglophone Literatures Today: Proceedings, ed. Ljiljana Subotić (Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet u Novom Sadu, 2011), pp. 480-489. [ available online ]
  • Moynagh, Maureen, 'Human Rights, Child-Soldier Narratives, and the Problem of Form', Research in African Literatures 42.4 (Winter 2011), pp. 39-59. Includes a discussion of Song for Night.
  • Munro, Ian, 'Mapping the Postcolonial Metropolis: Three Recent Novels from Nigeria', in Representing Minorities: Studies in Literature and Criticism, ed. Larbi Touaf & Soumia Boutkhil (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008), pp. 38-54. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Novak, Amy, 'Who Speaks? Who Listens? The Problem of Address in Two Nigerian Trauma Novels', Studies in the Novel 40.1&2, issue on 'Postcolonial Trauma Novels' (Spring-Summer 2008), pp. 31-51. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Nnodim, Rita, 'City, Identity and Dystopia: Writing Lagos in contemporary Nigerian novels', Journal of Postcolonial Writing 44.4 (December 2008), pp. 321-332. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Okpala, Jude Chudi, 'Postcolonial Aesthetics and Black British Aesthetics', in 'Black' British Aesthetics Today, ed. R. Victoria Arana (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007; 2nd ed. 2009), pp. 50-63. Includes a discussion of Kalakuta Republic and GraceLand.
  • Omelsky, Matthew, 'Chris Abani and the Politics of Ambivalence', Research in African Literatures 42.4 (Winter 2011), pp. 84-96. On GraceLand.
  • Ouma, Christopher Ernest Werimo, '"In the name of the Son": Fatherhood's Critical Legitimacy, Sonhood and Masculinities in Chris Abani's Graceland and The Virgin of Flames', English in Africa 38.2 (2011), pp. 77-94.
  • Patterson-Stein, Jacob, 'De-Nationalizing American Music in the "Third Space" of Graceland', eSharp 13, issue on 'Atlantic Exchanges' (Spring 2009), pp. 48-68. [ available online ]
  • Phillips, Delores B., '"What do I have to do with all this?" Eating, Excreting, and Belonging in Chris Abani's GraceLand', Postcolonial Studies 15.1 (2012), pp. 105-125.
  • Sandten, Cecile, '"Metroglorification and diffuse urbanism': Literarische Repräsentationen des Postkolonialen im Palimpsestraum der "neuen" Metropolen', Anglia 130.3 (2012), pp. 344-363. Includes a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Schultheis, Alexandra, 'African Child Soldiers and Humanitarian Consumption', Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 20 (2008), pp. 31-40. Includes a discussion of Song for Night.
  • Schultheis, Alexandra W., 'Global Specters: Child Soldiers in the Post-National Fiction of Uzodinma Iweala and Chris Abani', in Emerging African Voices: A Study of Contemporary African Literature, ed. Walter P. Collins (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2010), pp. 13-51. Includes a discussion of Song for Night.
  • Sereda, Stefan, 'Riffing on Resistance: Music in Chris Abani's Graceland', Ariel 39.4 (October 2008), pp. 31-47. [ available online ]
  • Stobie, Cheryl, 'Indecent Theology, Trans-theology, and the Transgendered Madonna in Chris Abani's The Virgin of Flames', Research in African Literatures 42.2 (Summer 2011), pp. 170-183.
  • Tunca, Daria, '"We die only once, and for such a long time": Approaching Trauma through Translocation in Chris Abani's Song for Night', in Postcolonial Translocations: Cultural Representation and Critical Spatial Thinking, ed. by Marga Munkelt, Markus Schmitz, Mark Stein & Silke Stroh (Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2013), pp. 127-143. [ available online ]

 

Entries in Encyclopedias & Reference Works

  • 'Abani, Chris 1967-', in Contemporary Authors, vol. 241, ed. Julie Mellors (Detroit: Gale, 2006).
  • 'Abani, Chris 1967(?)-', in Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series, vol. 176, ed. Amanda D. Sams (Detroit: Gale, 2009).
  • 'Chris Abani', in Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 347: Twenty-First-Century 'Black' British Writers, ed. R. Victoria Arana (Detroit: Gale, 2009).
  • 'Chris Abani', in Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community, vol. 77 (Detroit: Gale, 2010).
  • Belcher, Wendy, 'Abani, Chris (1966 -   )', in World Poetry: 1900 to the Present, ed. R. Victoria Arana (New York: Facts on File, 2007), pp. 1-2.
  • Belcher, Wendy, 'Daphne's Lot Chris Abani (2003)', in World Poetry: 1900 to the Present, ed. R. Victoria Arana (New York: Facts on File, 2007), p. 123.
  • Belcher, Wendy, 'Dog Woman Chris Abani (2004)', in World Poetry: 1900 to the Present, ed. R. Victoria Arana (New York: Facts on File, 2007), pp. 144-145.
  • Bookman, Ariel, 'Abani, Chris (1966 -   )', in Dictionary of African Biography (vol. 1: Abach-Brand), ed. Emmanuel K. Akyeampong & Henry Louis Gates Jr (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 3-4.
  • Enisuoh, Raymond, 'Abani, Chris', in Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture, ed. Alison Donnell (London & New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 2-3.
  • Owomoyela, Oyekan, 'Abani, Christopher (1966 -   ), in his The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), pp. 51-52.
  • Tunca, Daria, 'Christopher Abani', Literary Encyclopedia (2010).

 

Dissertations

  • Barberan Reinares, Maria Laura, 'Commodified Anatomies: Disposable Women in Postcolonial Narratives of Sexual Trafficking/Abduction', PhD thesis, Georgia State University, USA, 2012, 221 pp. Includes a discussion of Becoming Abigail.
  • Chasen, Laura Elizabeth, 'Dislocated Subjects: Transnational Forced Prostitution, African Female Bodies and Corporeal Resistance', MA thesis, Georgetown University, USA, 2010, 58 pp. Contains a chapter on Becoming Abigail (pp. 26-47).
  • Corson, Elizabeth R.,'Cooking Is Always a Good Time for Healing: The Roles of Food and Motherhood in Christina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuban and Chris Abani's GraceLand', MA thesis, East Carolina University, USA, 2006.
  • Denison, Sheri, 'Walking through the Shadows: Ruins, Reflections, and Resistance in the Postcolonial Gothic Novel', PhD thesis, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA, 2009, 415 pp. Contains a section on The Virgin of Flames (pp. 328-338).
  • Hartwiger, Alexander, 'Cosmopolitan Pedagogy: Reading Postcolonial Literature in an Age of Globalization', PhD thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA, 2010, 216 pp. Contains a section on GraceLand (pp. 189-205), and discusses Becoming Abigail and Song for Night, passim.
  • Kuroki, Mikage, 'L.A. Stories: Identity and Conflict in Posturban Culture', PhD thesis, University of California, Riverside, USA, 2011, 270 pp. Contains a discussion of The Virgin of Flames.
  • Lanting, Mark, 'Literatures of Suffering, Imprisonment, and Death: Finding Balance in Deconstruction through Observing Joseph Conrad and Christopher Abani's Postcolonial Aesthetic and Critique', MA thesis, Governors State University, USA, 2005, 138 pp.
  • Mackey, Allison E., 'Apparitions of Planetary Consciousness in Contemporary Coming-of-Age Narratives: Reimagining Knowledge, Responsibility and Belonging', PhD thesis, McMaster University, Canada, 2011, 285 pp. Includes a short discussion of Song for Night (pp. 228-232).
  • Malcom, Carolyn Patricia, 'Settlement Fctions: Global South Literature and the Postcolonial Urban Imaginary', PhD thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ, USA, 2012, 158 pp. Includes a discussion of Chris Abani's work.
  • Mason, Lauren Camille, 'Postcards from the Edge-city: Mass-media and Photographic Images in Contemporary Novels of the Black Diaspora', PhD thesis, Michigan State University, 2011, 165 pp. Contains a discussion of GraceLand.
  • Murphy, Michelle, 'Trauma and Identity within Chris Abani's Virgin of Flames and Becoming Abigail', Honours thesis, University of Wollongong, Australia, 2011, 34 pp.
  • Ohwovoriole, Benjamin Cyril Oghenekaro, 'Structure and Characterisation as Metaphors for Neurological Disorder in Chris Abani's GraceLand', MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2009, 104 pp.
  • Ouma, Christopher Ernest Werimo, 'Childhood in Contemporary Nigerian Fiction', PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2011, 340 pp, passim. Contains various sections on GraceLand and The Virgin of Flames.
  • Phillips, Delores B., 'In Questionable Taste: Eating Culture, Cooking Culture in Anglophone Postcolonial Texts', PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, USA, 2009, 317 pp. Contains a chapter entitled 'The Excesses of this World: The Cookbook Form's Unwillingness to Report The News', which partly deals with GraceLand (pp. 108-137).
  • Smit, Willem Jacobus, 'Becoming the Third Generation: Negotiating Modern Selves in Nigerian Bildungsromane of the 21st Century', MA thesis, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, 2009, 128 pp. Contains a chapter on GraceLand (pp. 87-116).

 

Study Guides

  • 'Study questions for GraceLand', Just Buffalo (Babel 2010-2011 booklet), pp. 6-7.
  • 'GraceLand, by Chris Abani', in Novels for Students, vol. 35: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels, ed. Sara Constantakis (Detroit: Gale, 2011).

 

Profiles

  • Kargbo, Kolasa, Vanguard, 5 December 1985, p. 7. Story covering Abani's winning of the 1983 Delta Fiction Award.
  • Kargbo, Kolasa, Vanguard, 15 December 1985, p. 3. Story covering the launch of Masters of the Board.
  • Obi, Comfort, Nigerian Statesman Newspaper, 8 March 1986, p. 7. Article based on an interview recorded in December 1985.
  • Pinter, Harold, 'Chris Abani', Prince Claus Awards 5 (2001), pp. 48-51.
  • O'Brien, Pat, 'The write way out: Former political prisoner honored for his novel', Press-Enterprise, 26 May 2005, p. D1.
  • Datcher, Michael, 'West Coast Kinfolk', Black Issues Book Review 7.3 (May-June 2005), pp. 34-35. On Chris Abani and Kamau Daáood.
  • Taggart, Phil, 'Nigerian Elvis comes to Oxnard', Ventoura County Reporter, 29 June 2006.
  • Henderson, Monique H. & Joyce Tse, 'Prize-winning UCR author, poet makes things personal', Press-Enterprise, 3 July 2006, p. B1.
  • Timberg, Scott, 'Chris Abani is living the "perfect metaphor"', Los Angeles Times, 18 February 2007. Also published as 'Dreams consume the city: Author seeks "uneasy grace" in portrait of life in Los Angeles', Calgary Herald, 4 March 2007, p. C5.
  • Akubuiro, Henry, 'Chimamanda opened the door of success for me in US', Daily Sun (Nigeria), 6 May 2007.
  • Sibree, Bron, 'Triumph over treason', Canberra Times, 23 August 2008, p. B9. Also published as 'Shaped by suffering', South China Morning Post, 19 October 2008, p. 5. An expanded version was also published as 'A poetic homage to redemption', Courier Mail, 30 August 2008, p. 24.
  • Rabalais, Kevin, 'The clarity of distance', Australian, 30 August 2008, p. 8.
  • Pohl, R.D., 'Chris Abani: "Terror is a state of complete understanding..."', Buffalo News, 23 April 2009.
  • 'Chris Abani', Index on Censorship 39.4, issue entitled 'Beyond Bars: 50 Years of the PEN Writers in Prison Committee' (December 2010), p. 164.
  • 'Chris Abani', Just Buffalo (Babel 2010-2011 booklet), pp. 2-3.
  • Endolyn, Osayi, 'Transcending Worldview with Chris Abani, Connector, 6 March 2011.
  • Fulton, Ben, 'Nigerian author: Art makes the difficult easier', Salt Lake Tribune, 5 May 2011.
  • Adebisi, Yemi, 'Things Fall Apart, My First Love - Abani', Daily Independent, 16 July 2011.
  • Mateos-Vega, Mónica, 'La violencia no debe Ilevarnos a olvidar que existe la esperanza: Chris Abani', La Jornada (Mexico), 15 November 2011, p. 27.

 

Reviews

Fiction

GraceLand

  • Esquire (March 2004), p. 54.
  • Kirkus Reviews 71.21 (1 November 2003), p. 1281.
  • Los Angeles Magazine 49.4 (April 2004), p. 117. Very short review.
  • New York Times, 24 February 2004, p. 22; also published in New York Times, 7 March 2004, p. 18; New York Times, 14 March 2004, p. 22; New York Times, 6 June 2004, p. 26. Very short review.
  • Publishers Weekly 250.46 (17 November 2003), p. 39. Short review.
  • San Francisco Chronicle, 7 March 2004, p. M2; also published in San Francisco Chronicle, 14 March 2004, p. M2; San Francisco Chronicle, 12 December 2004, p. E2. Very short review.
  • Washington Post, 24 April 2005, p. T11. Very short review.
  • Athitakis, Mark, 'GraceLand shimmers with outrage, redemption', Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7 February 2004.
  • Balistreri, Alex, 'Graceland a graceful read', Daily Cardinal (University of Madison-Wisconsin), 30 March 2004.
  • Bukiet, Melvin Jules, 'Coming of age amid the horror of Nigeria's urban decay', Boston Globe, 11 April 2004, p. D7.
  • Chihara, Michelle, Mother Jones 29.2 (March-April 2004), p. 86.
  • Cryer, Dan, 'All Shook Up in a Culture Gone Crazy', Newsday, 4 February 2004. Also published as 'Coming of age in a troubled country', Chicago Tribune, 29 February 2004.
  • Eriksson, Magnus, 'Afrikanska rockdrömmar', SvD, 19 January 2010. In Swedish.
  • Freeman, John, 'This Elvis seeks grace in hard land', Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 19 March 2004, p. F1.
  • Griswold, Sheridan, Mmegi, 17 June 2005.
  • Harrison, Sophie, 'Jailhouse Rock', New York Times (Book Review), 22 February 2004, p. 8.
  • Hawley, John C., 'Oke's Odyssey', America 191.3 (2-9 August 2004), pp. 25-27.
  • Helgesson, Stefan, 'Ömsint komik och brutal fasa', Dagens Nyheter, 14 November 2009. In Swedish.
  • Hunt, Katherine, Journal of Asian and African Studies 43.2 (April 2008), pp. 241-243.
  • Kan, Toni, African Literature Today 26, issue on 'War in African Literature Today' (2008), p. 144.
  • Larson, Susan, 'Out of Africa, tales of sorrow and Redemption', Times-Picayune, 15 February 2004, p. 5.
  • Lee, Christopher J., International Journal of African Historical Studies 37.3 (2004), pp. 568-570.
  • Lehmann, Chris, 'A World All Shook Up', Washington Post, 3 February 2004, p. C4.
  • Lingebrandt, Ann, 'Mörkrets smärta', Helsingborgs Dagblad, 14 December 2009. In Swedish.
  • Lloyd McMichael, Barbara, 'A Nigerian Elvis coming of age in the streets of Lagos', Seattle Times, 27 February 2004.
  • Lorentzon, Leif, Karavan 2 (2006). In Swedish.
  • Marchman, Tim, New York Sun, 10 March 2004.
  • Maury, Pierre, 'Lagos, ville de toutes les douleurs', Soir, 8 February 2008. In French.
  • Mengestu, Dinaw, 'At the End of Lonely Street', New Leader 87.1 (January-February 2004), pp. 27-28.
  • Miller, Gregory, 'State of Graceland', San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 February 2004.
  • Moore, Elaine, Africa Policy Journal 1 (Spring 2006), pp. 114-115.
  • Offshore, Asmaa Malik, 'But a hound dog', Toronto Star, 18 April 2004, p. D13.
  • O'Kelley, Patrick, Seattle Weekly, 25 February 2004.
  • Ott, Bill, Booklist 100.6 (15 November 2003), p. 570. Short review.
  • Rispart, Jan, Med andra ord 54 (March 2008). In Swedish.
  • Rubin, Merle, 'Graceland is a study in Nigeria's many contrasts', Los Angeles Times, 5 April 2004.
  • Seaman, Donna, Booklist 102.22 (August 2006), p. 39. Extremely short review.
  • Singer, Ron, 'Culture Clash', American Book Review 25.6 (September-October 2004), pp. 16, 18.
  • Stepanich, Greg, 'Lyrical novel of Nigeria gives a nod to the King', Palm Beach Post, 9 May 2004, p. 9J.
  • St John, Edward B., Library Journal 129.1 (15 January 2004), p. 151. Short review.
  • Taylor, Ihsan, New York Times, 27 February 2005, p. 24. Very short review.
  • Tepper, Anderson, 'Squatter Writes', Village Voice, 10 February 2004.
  • Tunca, Daria, Wasafiri 45 (Summer 2005), pp. 81-83.
  • Wolff, Carlo, 'All shook up', San Francisco Chronicle, 29 February 2004.
Note: GraceLand was also reviewed in Altar Magazine, the Philadelphia Enquirer, the Seattle Sinner and India in New York (source: The Web Site of Chris Abani).

Becoming Abigail

  • Africultures (March 2010). In French. Short review.
  • Mosaic 17 (January 2007).
  • Publishers Weekly (9 January 2006), pp. 30-31. Short review.
  • Athitakis, Mark, Chicago Reader, 30 March 2006. Short review.
  • Baldwin, Ruth, Nation 283.1, 3 July 2006, p. 36.
  • Broberg, Oskar, 'Brutalt och inkännande', Alba 4 (2008). In Swedish.
  • Bryant, Janice K., 'Things Fall Apart', Essence 37.1 (May 2006), p. 85.
  • Collins, Justin Adewale, Black Issues Book Review 8.4 (July-August 2006), p. 37. Short review.
  • Davis Konigsberg, Ruth, Believer (April 2006).
  • Ehrenreich, Ben, 'Persistence of Memory', Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2006.
  • Esehagu, Rosemary, 'Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail: The Mind in Pain', American Chronicle, 4 November 2006.
  • Greczek, Kevin, Library Journal 131.2, 1 February 2006, p. 68.
  • Heacox, Daniel, 'The Movement of Time in Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail', Pitkin Review (Spring 2008).
  • Ihara, Nathan, 'Poor, Solitary, Nasty, Brutish and Short', LA Weekly, 30 April 2006.
  • Karbo, Karen, Entertainment Weekly 871, 7 April 2006. Very short review.
  • Ladipo Manyika, Sarah, African Literature Today 27 (2010), p. 161.
  • Lipsyte Sam, 'Motherless London', New York Times (Book Review), 19 March 2006, p. 11.
  • Messinger, Jonathan, Time Out Chicago, 26 February 2005.
  • Rochman, Hazel, Booklist 102.13 (1 March 2006), p. 60. Short review.
  • Von Born, Heidi, 'Att erövra sitt liv', SvD, 17 October 2008. In Swedish.
  • Wardyn, Tim, Ink19 (April 2006).

Song for Night

  • Africultures (March 2011). In French. Short review.
  • Publishers Weekly 254.26 (25 June 2007), p. 29. Short review.
  • Allan, Hawa, 'Coming of Age in Child Soldier Literature', Brooklyn Rail, July-August 2011.
  • Bernard, Louise, 'Silent Warrior', Washington Post, 2 September 2007, p. T4.
  • Byram, Lesley, 'Tragic parable gives voice to lost innocence of a child soldier', Cape Times, 11 December 2009, p. E1.
  • Casey, Maud, 'Broken Boy Soldier', New York Times, 16 September 2007, p. 14.
  • Pettersson, Jan-Erik, Karavan 4 (2010). In Swedish.
  • Ervin, Andrew, 'A boy's silent, perillous journey', Miami Herald, 11 November 2007, p. 6M.
  • Flakierski, Gregor, 'Visst finns det afrikansk litteratur', Flamman, 10 November 2010. In Swedish.
  • Gluckstern, Nicole, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 25 September 2007.
  • Hagberg, Stefan, 'En läsning lĺngt ifrĺn förströelsens', Alba 4 (2010). In Swedish.
  • Josefsson, Erika, 'Abani prövar vĺra gränser', SvD, 27 September 2010. In Swedish
  • Kako, Annie-Monia, 'L'enfance ŕ jamais perdue', La revue littéraire du monde noir 2 (May, June, July 2012), p. 49. In French.
  • Knox, Malcolm, 'Haunted by the ghosts in a child soldier's life', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November 2008, p. 26.
  • Krauth, Nigel, ' A hope found in lost words', Australian, 9 August 2008, p. 10.
  • Lee, Youyoung, Entertainment Weekly, 31 August 2007.
  • Marsh, Molly, 'Building bridges', Sojourners Magazine 37.10, 1 November 2008, p. 52. Very short review.
  • Ogunlesi, Tolu, 'War in the Time of Childhood', Wasafiri 61 (Spring 2010), pp. 84-87. Also reviews other child soldier narratives.
  • Pak Poy, Patricia, Eureka Street 18.16 (15 August 2008).
  • Poorter, Lucia, '"Interior monologue" on brutality', Sunday Independent (South Africa), 26 October 2008, p. 17.
  • Reyn, Irina, 'Boyhood lost', Los Angeles Times, 2 September 2007.
  • Rochman, Hazel, Booklist 103.22 (1 August 2007), p. 39. Short review.
  • Saunders, Kate, Times, 11 October 2008, Books p. 13. Very short review.
  • Scholl, Peter, Sigma Tau Delta (Fall 2009), p. 5.
  • Schottenius, Maria, Dagens Nyheter, 13 January 2011.
  • Serafin, Anne, Multicultural Review 17.1 (Spring 2008), p. 45. Short review.
  • Strange, Shane, 'Dark heart of humanity in child soldier's story', Canberra Times, 23 August 2008, p. 12.
  • Torday, Daniel, 'Broken Boy Soldier', Esquire, 3 October 2007.
  • Trilling, Daniel, 'You're never too young to kill', Observer (Review), 7 September 2008, p. 23.
  • Wellington, Darryl Lorenzo, 'A Child Soldier Bears Witness to a Life in Hell', Crisis 114.6 (November-December 2007), p. 39.
  • Wood, Liana, 'Armed struggle', New Statesman 137.4894, 28 April 2008, p. 59. Short review.
  • Zott, Debra, Transnational Literature 1.1 (1 November 2008).

The Virgin of Flames

  • Kirkus Reviews 74.22 (15 November 2006), p. 1139. Short review.
  • New Yorker 82.46 (22 January 2007), p. 85. Very short review.
  • Publishers Weekly 253.44 (6 November 2006), p. 37. Short review.
  • Athitakis, Mark, Washington City Paper, 9 February 2007. Short review.
  • Barrios, Gregg, 'Mistaken Identity', San Antonio Current, 27 February 2007.
  • Cheuse, Alan, 'Chris Abani's new novel of art and obsession', Chicago Tribune, 4 February 2007.
  • Cheuse, Alan, 'In Los Angeles, an Artist and a Stripper's Story ', All Things Considered, NPR, 6 February 2007. Audio & transcript. Also published in World Literature Today 81.4 (1 July 2007), p. 6.
  • DeLuca, Dan, 'Poems, a novel with language most luminous', Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 March 2007. Also reviews Hands Washing Water. Shorter versions (reviewing only The Virgin of Flames) were also published as 'Lyrical beauty in "Flames"', Press-Enterprise, 21 April 2007, and as 'Virgin of Flames blends cultures' in Detroit Free Press, 15 April 2007.
  • DeLuca, Dan, 'Bewildering, mesmerizing "Virgin" in East L.A.', Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 April 2007. Also published in San Jose Mercury News, 1 April 2007.
  • Harmanci, Reyhan, 'Layered L.A. story', San Francisco Chronicle, 22 February 2007, p. G26.
  • Heller Amanda, Boston Globe, 17 January 2007, p. D5. Short review.
  • Lee-Youngren, Tiffany, 'The best things in life are free, but you can give it to the bird...', San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 March 2007, Books p. 7.
  • Lloyd McMichael, Barbara, 'Seeking salvation in L.A.'s heart of darkness', Seattle Times, 2 February 2007. Also reviews Hands Washing Water.
  • Martínez, Rubén, 'Peripheral visions', Los Angeles Times, 28 January 2007.
  • McGillis, Ian, 'Searching for identity in east L.A.', Montreal Gazette, 3 February 2007, p. J3.
  • Nwakanma, Obi, Vanguard, 7 July 2007.
  • Olsson, Karen, 'The Recycled City', New York Times (Book Review), 28 January 2007, p. 8.
  • Pastorek, Whitney, Entertainment Weekly 918-919 (2 February 2007). Very short review.
  • Saidullah, Ahmad, Quarterly Conversation 8 (Summer 2007).
  • Savage, Megan, Indiana Review 29.2 (Winter 2007).
  • Seaman, Donna, Booklist 103.8 (15 December 2006), p. 20. Short review.
  • Smiley, Jane, 'Our lady of east LA', Guardian (Review), 21 April 2007, p. 17.
  • Tierney, Thane, 'Living on the Edge', Bookpage, date unknown.
  • Tripney, Natasha, 'Outsider chic', New Statesman 138.4847 (4 June 2007), p. 59. Short review.
  • Yanique, Tiphanie, 'Faith in the City', American Book Review 29.3 (March-April 2008), p. 29.
Note: The Virgin of Flames was also reviewed in Time Out New York (source: The Web Site of Chris Abani).

Poetry

Kalakuta Republic

  • Boran, Pat, 'Where hope and innocence survive', Sunday Tribune, 21 January 2001.
  • Ojaide, Tanure, World Literature Today 75.2 (Spring 2001), p. 309.
  • Winder, Robert, 'Prison Literature', New Statesman 130.4538, 21 May 2001, p. 52-53.
Note: Kalakuta Republic was also reviewed in the New Humanist, Diwaniya (by Susannah Tarbush), and Pride (source: The Web Site of Chris Abani).

Daphne's Lot

  • Handal, Nathalie, Sable 7 (Autumn 2005), p. 86.

Hands Washing Water

  • Archibeque, Carlye, poeticdiversity 5.1 (April 2007).
  • DeLuca, Dan, 'Poems, a novel with language most luminous', Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 March 2007. Also reviews The Virgin of Flames.
  • DeLuca, Dan, 'Bewildering, mesmerizing "Virgin" in East L.A.', Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 April 2007. Also published in San Jose Mercury News, 1 April 2007. Also reviews The Virgin of Flames.
  • Huston, Karla, Library Journal 131.19 (15 November 2006), p. 74.
  • Lloyd McMichael, Barbara, 'Seeking salvation in L.A.'s heart of darkness', Seattle Times, 2 February 2007. Also reviews The Virgin of Flames.
  • Peterson, Katie, 'Verse collections offer variety of voices, images', Chicago Tribune, 11 February 2007. Short review.

Sanctificum

  • Seaman, Donna, Booklist 106.15 (1 April 2010), p. 18. Short review.
  • Seetch, Beth, 'Poetry of cruelty and love', Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 March 2010, p. H11.
  • White, Ashanti, Library Journal 135.5 (15 March 2010), p. 107.
Note: Sanctificum was also reviewed in the New Humanist (source: The Web Site of Chris Abani).

Feed Me the Sun

  • World Literature Today 85.2 (March-April 2011), p. 59. Extremely short review.

 

Miscellaneous
  • Kassabova, Kapka, 'Parts of Speech: Poem for Chris Abani', in Creativity in Exile, ed. Mike Hanne (Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2004), pp. 35-36.
  • Rosen, Jerry, 'King was a gift', Post-Standard/Herald Journal, 21 January 2007, p. B1. Report on Chris Abani's keynote at the 22nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Syracuse University.
  • 'Syracuse community honors legacy of MLK Jr.', U-Wire, 22 January 2007. Report on Chris Abani's keynote at the 22nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Syracuse University.
  • 'Writer addresses Syracuse campus on heroism, kindness', U-Wire, 22 January 2007. Report on Chris Abani's keynote at the 22nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Syracuse University.
  • Pride, Felicia, 'Akashic Takes Black Goat', Publishers Weekly 254.36 (10 September 2007), p. 11.
  • Geoffrey Wisner, 'Nigeria: GraceLand by Chris Abani', in his A Basket of Leaves: 99 Books that Capture the Spirit of Africa (Auckland Park: Janaca Media, 2007), pp. 187-188.
  • 'Exiled Nigerian author explores pain, promise of his roots at University of Central Florida Forum', US Fed News, 12 March 2008.
  • Samha, Lubna, 'My work is against forgetting, says Abani', Peninsula (Qatar), 25 April 2008.
  • 'Chris Abani wins beyond margins award', States News Service, 16 May 2008. Also published by US Fed News.
  • Ndukwe, Johnson, 'Nigeria's Chris Abani wins American prize', Vanguard, 8 July 2008.
  • Nelson, Davia & Nikka Silva, 'A Woman's Mission: To Teach Birth Control In Nigeria', All Things Considered, NPR, 6 May 2010. Audio & transcript. On Chris Abani's mother, Daphne Mae Hunt; includes comments by Abani.
  • Kellogg, Carolyn, 'Writers chronicle Africa in sync with World Cup', Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2010.
  • Kellogg, Carolyn, 'Chris Abani's Graceland removed from Florida reading list', Los Angeles Times, 9 August 2010.
  • Pohl, R.D., 'BABEL series author Abani's Graceland removed from high school', Buffalo News, 15 August 2010.
  • Rosenblum, Gail, 'A persistent student books a world-class storyteller', Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6 April 2011.

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