Stephen Buoro

Stephen Buoro (born 1993) is a Nigerian writer known for his distinctive voice and narrative style in contemporary African literature. He gained recognition with his debut novel, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, published in 2023 by Bloomsbury. Quotes The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa (2023) I’m a Homo habilis”; “the pig and ape that I am”; “Is she not afraid I might stain her, my colour jump onto her like in those monster horror films? Describing himself to the white lady White like chalk. So white, unlike Father McMahon, who our evil sun has turned to a red man. The x of the equation is that there’s a blonde here in Kontagora, a platinum blonde if I’ll believe Isaiah. Marilyn Monroe who has never had mosquitoes sing in her ears and suck her blood, leaving red swellings as they fly away. A Princess Diana who has never woken up at midnight with hunger. A Taylor Swift who has never experienced a blackout. ...whites are so rich that they can wipe their anuses with money. Her handwriting, tbh, is like the prints of a hen digging for food, i.e. barely legible. ..writes as clearly and sweetly as Hillary Clinton. One evening I was sitting in my living room when a voice suddenly came to me. The voice was full of so much urgency, energy, shame, sadness, the desire to confess repressed thoughts. So I picked up my BlackBerry and I began to follow the voice, to give it room to express itself, to try to understand it. After writing about 500 words, I stopped and began to reread all that I had written. I discovered that it was the most truthful and eviscerating piece of writing I had ever composed up till that time. This piece became the opening of the novel. When I was fifteen like Andy, I found poetry and maths hugely therapeutic. They were my canvases for spray-painting my rioting emotions, angst, hopelessness, daily frustrations, my spaceships for momentary escapes. They were amazing tools for scrutinising and unravelling myself. Almost everything about me has been shaped (at varying degrees) by the West. Almost everything. We had two selves, African and Western, in constant oscillation and collision with each other. Writing about Nigeria is writing about religion, for it is a country where almost everyone is religious or conditioned to be religious. Every book I’ve read has influenced me in some way. External links The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa Bloomsbury Interview Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:Novelists from Nigeria