As the world mourns Professor Chinua Achebe, as I sit in grief moping about the loss of a man who, outside of my father, has been one of the most influential men in my life, my thoughts keep straying strangely to Flora Nwapa and that book of hers, Efuru that I fell in love with over and over again. Nwapa (nee Nwakuche died in 1993 I believe). And Buchi Emecheta. As a child growing up in the police barracks and the cities, I witnessed heart-wrenching marital and child abuse, of women and children who had no voices to fight back. When I read Emecheta's Second Class Citizen, I felt better, I felt like there was someone who could speak truth to power. Emecheta is not the greatest of writers but she sang the only way she knew how. As we mourn Achebe, I rise to salute a great woman who spoke back to the men of my father's generation and gave it to them, blow by blow. Buchi Emecheta, you are a true pioneer and trail blazer. And you are my Virginia Woolf. *applause*
*cycles away slowly*
- Ikhide
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