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Secondary Sources

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

 

Books

  • Oboe, Annalisa & Elisa Bordin, Chris Abani (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022).

 

Articles & Essays

 

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.
  • Okpala, Jude Chudi, 'Chris Abani', in Twenty-First-Century 'Black' British Writers, ed. by R. Victoria Arana (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2009), pp. 3-12.
  • 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

  • Addei, Cecilia, 'Childhoods Dis-ordered: Non-Realist Narrative Modes in Selected Post-2000 West African War Novels', PhD dissertation, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, 2017, 249 pp. Partly deals with Song for Night.
  • Adler, Lauren C., '"If the Sun Refuses to Rise, We Will Make it Rise": Queer Migration in Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and GraceLand (2004)', MA dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, 2020, 44 pp.
  • Bamberger, Katherine B., 'Postcolonial Entanglement: How the Carnivalesque Links Toni Morrison and Chris Abani in Disruptive Dialogue', Honors thesis, University of Vermont, USA, 2020, 654 pp.
  • Banita, Gabriela Alexandra, 'Chris Abani's Naked Humanity: A Reading of Song for Night', MA dissertation, University of Padua, Italy, 2019.
  • 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 chapter on Becoming Abigail (pp. 133-146).
  • Barakat Chami, Dima, 'The Biopolitics of Migration: Critical Becomings in the Contemporary African Novel', PhD thesis, University of Leeds, UK, 2019. Partly deals with GraceLand and
  • 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).
  • Chingwere, Kudzai, 'Monsters or Victims: An Analysis of the African Child Soldier as Depicted in Chris Abani's Song for Night, Emmanuel Dongala's Johnny Mad Dog and Ieweala Uzodinma's [sic] Beasts of No Nation', BA thesis, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe, 51 pp.
  • 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.
  • Crowley, Dustin James, 'The Geography of Narrative: Representations of Place in African Literature', PhD thesis, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA, 2013, 169 pp. Contains a chapter entitled 'Half Slum, Half Paradise: Abani's Global Cities', on GraceLand and The Virgin of Flames (pp. 127-160).
  • 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).
  • Dunn, Joshua, 'Cross Roads of the Living and the Dead: Necropolitics and Market Logic in Chris Abani's Graceland', MA thesis, University of South Carolina, USA, 2017, 45 pp.
  • Ferigutti, Sara, 'Trafficking Black Women in Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail and Chika Unigwe's On Black Sisters' Street', MA thesis, University of Padua, Italy, 2022, 87 pp.
  • Frantz, Kristin, 'Finding the Maternal in Shakespeare, Kincaid, Abani, and Hamid', MA dissertation, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem NC, USA, 2019, 68 pp.
  • Grilli, Fiorenza Germana, 'Blackness and the American Dream: Constructing Black Transnational Identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah and Chris Abani's GraceLand', MA dissertation, University of Padua, Italy, 2019, 139 pp.
  • 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.
  • Hawkins, Benjamin, 'Exploring Realism and Magical Realism in Slum Novels of the Global South', Honors thesis, Portland State University, USA, 35 pp. Partly deals with GraceLand.
  • Hill, Elyan Jeanine, 'Bodyscripts: Mami Wata, Diaspora, and Circum-Atlantic Performance', MA thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, 2013, 98 pp. Includes a chapter on Abani's GraceLand (pp. 64-85).
  • Houle-Eichel, Camille, 'Unseen (Re)creation: Trafficking and Migrant Sex Work in Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail and Chika Unigwe's On Black Sisters' Street, MA dissertation, University of Montréal, Canada, 2021, 77 pp.
  • Krishnan, Madhu, 'Constructions of Self and Community in the Contemporary Nigerian-Biafran War Novel', PhD thesis, University of Nottingham, UK, 2012. Partly deals with Chris Abani's GraceLand.
  • Kumbalonah, Abobo, 'Mobility and the Representation of African Dystopian Spaces in Film and Literature', PhD dissertation, Ohio University, USA, 2015, 242 pp. Includes a chapter on Song for Night.
  • 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.
  • Lalhmangaihzauva, Z.D., 'Narrativizing Violence in the Selected Works by Chris Abani', PhD thesis, Mizoram University, India, 2019, 177 pp.
  • 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.
  • Levitt Cumpsty, Rebekah Lindiwe, '"Lean[ing] into transcendence": Transformations of the Sacred in South African, Zimbabwean and Nigerian Literatures', PhD dissertation, University of York, UK, 2016.
  • 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 chapter that partly deals with Abani's GraceLand.
  • 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.
  • Moellenberg, Tamara, ' Fictions of Youth: Childness in Selected West African Novels, 1991-2009', PhD dissertation, University of Oxford, UK, 2015.
  • Murphy, Michelle, 'Trauma and Identity within Chris Abani's Virgin of Flames and Becoming Abigail', Honours thesis, University of Wollongong, Australia, 2011, 34 pp.
  • Njovane, Thandokazi, 'The Trope of the Child: Rereading Trauma, Subjectivity and Embodiment in Contemporary Child-centred African Narratives by Ahmadou Kourouma, Chris Abani, K. Sello Duiker and Yvonne Vera', PhD dissertation, Grahamstown, South Africa, 2020, 196 pp.
  • Ohajunwa, Dionne, 'Writing the Lagosian Homeland: The Ambiguous and Precarious African Urban in Chris Abani's GraceLand (2004)', MA dissertation, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2024, 79 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.
  • Okajima, Kei, 'Performing Childhood in Diaspora: Palimpsestic Bodies and Agency in Contemporary Black Diasporic Literature', PhD dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA, 2018, 173 pp. Includes a chapter on Song for Night.
  • 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).
  • Smith, Brady, 'Red, Black and Green: Ecology, Economy and the Contemporary African Novel', PhD thesis, University of Chicago, USA, 2015, 217 pp. Includes a chapter on Chris Abani's GraceLand (pp. 157-195).
  • Smith, Caleb, 'The Logic of Capital and the Possibility of Resistance in Chris Abani's GraceLand', MA dissertation, University of Carolina, USA, 2020, 42 pp.
  • Stevens, Brandon, 'Coming of Age in the Queer Postcolonial World', Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware OH, USA, MA dissertation, 2020. Partly deals with GraceLand.
  • Stockhammer, Linda, 'The Role of Drug Abuse in Contemporary African Fiction: Analysing Abubakar Adam Ibrahim's Season of Crimson Blossoms and Chris Albani's Graceland, BA dissertation, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2018, 18 pp. Also published as an e-book (Munich: Grim Verlag, 2018).
  • Thiao, Moussa, 'The Transnational Bildungsroman: New Perspectives on Postcolonial Coming of Age Narratives' PhD thesis, Indiana University,Bloomington, USA, 2016, 231 pp. Includes a chapter entitled 'Education Begins at Home: Extending 'The Contact Zone' in Graceland and Le Ventre de L'Atlantique' (pp. 71-118).
  • Vuletic, Snezana, 'From Colonial Disruption to Diasporic Entanglements: Narrations of Igbo Identities in the Novels of Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chris Abani', PhD thesis, 2018, 188 pp.
  • Zamanpour, Ali, 'Deterritorialized Male Subjectivity: Liminality, In-betweenness, and Becoming in Migrant Literary and Cultural Contexts', PhD thesis, University of Montréal, Canada, 2019. Partly deals with GraceLand (pp. 103-132).

 

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.
  • Lan, Lin, 'Acclaimed writer reads work at Writer’s House', Daily Targum, 24 September 2014.
  • Adegun, Aanu, 'Chris Abani: Portrait of Radical Poet, Novelist', Newswatch Times, 17 January 2015.
  • Udeze, Edozie, 'I began to write at ten – Chris Abani', Nation, 13 December 2015.
  • Wabuke, Hope, 'Chris Abani: "The middle-class view of Africa is a problem", Guardian, 27 July 2016.

 

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), pp. 144-145.
  • 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: Chris Abani Website).

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.
  • Jackson, A. Naomi, Mosaic Literary Magazine 17 (2006), pp. 33-34.
  • 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. G11.
  • 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 långt ifrån förströelsens', Alba 4 (2010). In Swedish.
  • Josefsson, Erika, 'Abani prövar våra gränser', SvD, 27 September 2010. In Swedish
  • Kako, Annie-Monia, 'L'enfance à 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: Chris Abani Website).

The Secret History of Las Vegas

  • Kirkus Reviews 82.1 (1 January 2014), p. 186.
  • Athitakis, Mark, Washington Post, 7 February 2014.
  • Farmer, Laura, 'It's no secret this mystery is brilliant', Gazette (Iowa), 2 March 2014.
  • Habash, Gabe, Publishers Weekly 260.48 (25 November 2013), p. 35. [online version: 3 January 2014]
  • Krause, M. Scott, 'A Literary Author Gets Criminal in The Secret History of Las Vegas', Vegas Seven, 20 May 2014.
  • Sharpe, Christina, 'Coming to Las Vegas', New Inquiry, 6 June 2014.
  • Theroux, Marcel, 'Unreconciled', New York Times (Sunday Book Review), 26 January 2014, p. BR17. [online version: 24 January 2014]
  • Wald-Hopkins, Christine, Tucson Weekly, 10 July 2014.
  • Weingarten, Marc, 'Lost souls wander Chris Abani's Secret History of Las Vegas, Los Angeles Times, 23 January 2014.
  • Zvirin, Stephanie, Booklist 110.7 (1 December 2013), pp. 29-30.

Non-Fiction

The Face: Cartography of the Void

  • Gigerenzer, Thalia, 'On Observing the Face', Semiotic Review 7 (September 2019).
  • Hagen, Patricia, Star Tribune, 27 February 2016.
  • Shreve, Porter, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 October 2014.

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: Chris Abani Website).

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

  • Rubeck, Levi, 'Sanctificum Exquisitus', Bomb, 17 November 2010.
  • 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: Chris Abani Website).

Feed Me the Sun

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

Smoking the Bible

Non-Fiction

Toward a Living Literary Archive of African Poetry

  • Bowles, Emily, Library Journal 150.6 (June 2025), pp. 93-94.
Edited Works

New-Generation African Poets

  • Lund, Elizabeth, 'New-Generation African Poets showcases rich and varied artistry', Washington Post, 12 April 2016.
Lagos Noir

  • Publishers Weekly, 4 June 2018.
  • 'Lagos Noir a deep dive for West African authors', Philadelphia Tribune, 22 June 2018.
  • Huchu, Tendai, Brittle Paper, 15 May 2018.
  • Omotoso, Kole, 'The Noirer The Letters', Guardian (Nigeria), 7 November 2021.
  • van Heerden, Neil, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 57.1 (2020), pp. 153-155.

 

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.
  • Ranzenberger, Katherine, 'Chris Abani talks art, loss and experience', Central Michigan Life, 20 February 2014. A different version was published as 'Award-winning author shares experiences for Black History Month', Midland Daily News, 25 February 2014.
  • Elliot, Jacob, 'Writer Chris Abani opens E.N. Thompson Forum lectures', Daily Nebraskan, 11 September 2014.
  • Hanson, Sherilynne, 'The Gracious Walk', L: Lincoln's Premier Lifestyle Magazine, 12 October 2014.
  • Page, Marissa, 'Writer, English Prof Chris Abani receives national arts fellowship', Daily Northwestern, 9 November 2014.
  • Baumgartner, Corey, 'Award winning novelist humanitarian speaks at SUU', Iron County Today, 22 September 2015.
  • Lee, Zachary, 'The Poetry of Monotony: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary with Chris Abani', Cornell Daily Sun, 9 November 2016. About a poetry reading by Chris Abani at Cornell.
  • McDonnell, Katherine, 'English Prof. Chris Abani talks about identity and language in his memoir The Face', Daily Northwestern, 1 November 2021.

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