Elnathan John

Elnathan John (born 1982) is a Nigerian novelist, satirist, writer and lawyer. He has written for publications including Sentinel Nigeria, Per Contra, Hazlitt, ZAM Magazine, Evergreen Review, and Chimurenga's Chronic. His stories have twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Career

Elnathan John was born in Kaduna, in north-west Nigeria, in 1982.^[1] He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained a law degree in 2007.^[2]

His short story "Bayan Layi", published in Per Contra, was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing^[3] in 2013.^[4] He was shortlisted again in 2015 for his short story "Flying".^[5] His writing has been published in Sentinel Nigeria, Per Contra, Hazlitt, ZAM Magazine, Evergreen Review, and Chimurenga's The Chronic.^[6] His first novel Born on a Tuesday^[7][8] was published by Cassava Republic Press in 2015 and in the US Grove Atlantic^[9] in 2016.^[1][10] Born on a Tuesday was shortlisted in September 2016 for the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa's largest literary award.^[11]

Elnathan John is a Civitella Ranieri Fellow (2015).^[12] He writes a weekly satirical column for the Sunday Trust newspaper^[13] and speaks regularly on Nigerian literature, media and politics. He lives in Abuja, Nigeria.

Published works

Novels

• Born on a Tuesday, Cassava Republic Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1911115021; Grove Atlantic (Black Cat), 2016, ISBN 978-0-8021-2482-1.

Short stories

• "In A Time of Boko Haram" in The Chronic (March 2015)
• "Running" in The Gonjon Pin and other stories — The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014 (UK: New Internationalist, 2014; Nigeria: Cassava Republic Press, 2014)
• "Flying",^[14] in Per Contra (Issue 33, Fall 2014)
• "A Memory This Size" in A Memory This Size and other stories — The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 (New Internationalist, 2013)
• "Waiting for Wame", in Evergreen Review (Issue 131, 2012)
• "Bayan Layi" in Per Contra (Issue 25, Fall 2012)
• "Learning Gertrud", in Otis Nebula (Summer issue, 2012)
• "Love in a Time of Protests," in ZAM Magazine (First International Edition, March 2012)
• "Your Man", in Sentinel Nigeria (Issue 8, 2011)
• "Flowers and Phantoms," in Cavalcade (Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009)

Poetry

• "Five Poems by Elnathan John", NigeriansTalk Litmag (11 August 2013)

Non-fiction

• "In a Time of Boko Haram", Chimurenga's Chronic (19 March 2015)
• "Three Fates in Nigeria", Hazlitt (2 March 2015)
• "Nigerian voters without memories breed politicians without shame",^[15] Financial Times (25 February 2015)

Satire

• "The Gospel According to Aid",^[16] The Guardian (31 July 2015)
• "How To Run a Nigerian NGO", ZAM Magazine Chronicle #16 (06/09/2015)

References

External links

• Elnathan John official website
• Elnathan's Dark Corner blog
• Elnathan John on Twitter
• Gen de Botton, "An Indies Introduce Q&A With Elnathan John", ABA – American Booksellers Association, 5 July 2016.