And Then He Sang a Lullaby

About the author

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is an award-winning Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist. His work interrogates themes of queer identity, resistance and liberation and has appeared in literary magazines across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. His work has received wide recognition, having been longlisted for the 2017 Awele Creative Trust Prize and the 2020 Afritondo Short Story Prize. He was shortlisted for the 2017 Erbacce Prize for Poetry, the 2020 ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award and the 2020 Toyin Falola Prize. The manuscript for this novel was awarded the 2021 James Currey Prize for African Literature.

Summary

Winner of the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction

August is a God-fearing track star who has left home and the expectations of his overbearing sisters. It's his first semester of university in Enugu State and he can't stop thinking about openly gay student Segun, who is clear that he only wants to be with a man who is comfortable in his own skin.

August and Segun's relationship eventually grows into a comfortable intimacy that defies the violence around them. But there is only so long Segun can stand being loved behind closed doors, and when a law is passed criminalizing gay marriage, August and Segun's love is tested like never before.

Foreword

Captivating, passionate and utterly heartbreaking, this debut novel tells the story of two young gay men in Nigeria who are determined to love each other despite all that stands in their way.

Product details

• Authors: Ani Kayode Somtochukwu
• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.06.2024
• EAN: 9781804710197
• ISBN: 978-1-80471-019-7
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 18 mm
• Weight: 213 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Fiction > Narrative literature > Contemporary literature (from 1945); FICTION / Coming of Age, FICTION / Political, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Politics, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, FICTION / LGBT / Gay