Book description
For the characters in Segun Afolabi's debut collection, 'elsewhere'
is a place they must transform into home. In the award-winning 'Monday
Morning' a refugee boy puzzles out his place in a new land. A bereaved
father in 'Arithmetic' thinks back to a confusing, youthful sexual
encounter that has left him emotionally scarred; Jacinta faces a long
retirement with a husband she is not sure she likes in 'Jumbo and
Jacinta' and 'The Wine Guitar' tells the story of an aging musician
who pays a prostitute for the gift of her youth.
These are tales of diaspora, of people making their lives in new
lands. Moving, funny and occasionally shocking, Afolabi's stories
reflect the way we live now.
A Life Elsewhere was shorlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Segun Afolabi was born in Nigeria and brought up in the Congo, Canada
and Japan. His stories have been published in various literary journals
including
Granta
, the
London Magazine
,
Wasafiri
and the
Edinburgh Review
. He lives and works in London.
