Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, 2016–2017 Olive B. O’Connor Fellow
The editors of the New York Times Book Review have announced their , and, unsurprisingly, it is filled with National Book Award winners, Pulitzer Prize finalists, and many other renowned writers — including one who is familiar to the °IJʿ community.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, dubbed by the Times as “a new and necessary voice,” finished writing Friday Black during his term as °IJʿ’s 2016–2017 Olive B. O’Connor fiction fellow. The debut novel was described on the list of notables as, “a powerful and important and strange and beautiful collection of stories meant to be read right now.”
During the course of his fellowship, Adjei-Brenyah taught two creative writing workshops on campus and held public readings of the now celebrated novel. The dystopian short story collection, released in October of this year, explores humanity, race relations, and consumerism through a series of violent and profound tales.
Recently, Adjei-Brenyah took a break from his book tour to partake in °IJʿ’s Living Writers Series. As eager students packed into Love Auditorium, he read from “The Era,” a story about modern-day lack of empathy through the portrayal of a society reliant on the drug “Good,” and answered questions about the political nature of his absurdist works.
To watch the livestream of Adjei-Brenyah’s Living Writers talk, click