Abstract
Chinelo Okparanta’s debut novel is a lesbian Bildungsroman set against the backdrop of a patriarchal and homophobic society. The novel depicts the coming-of-age of Ijeoma, and her path towards self‑acceptance. Both in line with writers of former generations, but also quite representative of those of her own generation, also known as the third generation of writers born after 1960, Okparanta finds her own path to give a voice to the LGBTQ community, which has been silenced for too long. Written in the aftermath of the Nigerian “Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act,” a confluence of both poetics and politics is at stake in order to explore same-sex sexuality in Nigeria, in a novel deeply anchored in the country’s history.
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