Buchi had a very interesting and quite difficult life and that reflected in her novels.
Even though 25th January is always the anniversary of Buchi Emecheta’s death, it’s better late than never to remember such an icon.
If you went to secondary school in Nigeria then ‘Second-class Citizen’ and ‘ The Joys of Motherhood’ were certainly a book you read, but what do you know about the author?
Buchi Emecheta was born Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta on July 21, 1944, in Yaba, Lagos.
1. Her mother was a former slave girl
Her mother Alice Ogbanje Ojebeta Emecheta was sold into slavery by her brother, so he could buy silk ties. She returned after her mistress died.
2. She stole money to secure a scholarship.
When her father died, one of her uncles inherited her mother and she was forced to live with relatives in Lagos who maltreated her. She stole money from the family’s purse for food and bought a form for scholarships and entrance exams. She got a scholarship to Methodist High Girls School in Lagos.
3. She got married at the age of 16.
Buchi didn’t marry a man chosen for her, but she loved him. His name was Sylvester Onwordi. Soon after they got married he relocated to England, and Buchi joined him the next year with their two children.
4. Her husband burnt her first manuscript.
Their life in England was far from perfect; we caught glimpses of that in her novel, ‘Second class citizen’. While looking for housing, a good job and warmth, she began writing her first novel, ‘Bride Price’ by hand. She gave it to her husband to read, and he burnt it. Buchi said that it was like her baby was being burnt.
5. Her husband raped her and their divorce was ghastly.
Buchi found her husband cheating on her, but perhaps the defining moment was when he burnt her manuscript. She and her four children left him, but he traced them down, raped her and got her pregnant for the fifth time. During their divorce, he denied they were married and burned all their marriage documents.
By the time, the marriage was over, Buchi was only 22 years old.
She rebuilt her life, went to University College London where she studied sociology, she later became a social worker. After the success of her books, she wrote over 20, Buchi travelled widely as a visiting professor and lecturer in many universities in the United States. She served as a senior resident fellow and visiting English professor at the University of Calabar in Nigeria from 1980 to 1981.
She was one of Granta’s “Best of the Young British Novelists” in 1983 and received an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary for the years 1982–1983. She gave lectures at the University of London and Yale University in 1981. In 1986, she was admitted as a Fellow student at the University of London.
She was on the advisory councils of the Caine Prize for African Writing and the Africa Centre in London.
