Flora Nwapa was said to be the first African woman novelist to be published in English with her first novel, Efuru, in 1966, and was also one of the first African female publishers with the founding of Tana Press in the 1977 - established to publish her own works, as well as others. Nwapa's works also includes Idu, Never Again, and Women are Different. I finally had the opportunity to read Efuru a few years ago thanks to the library at my workplace - they have an awesome selection of novels by African writers, including quite a bit of the African Writers Series, so it's absolutely fantastic that Flora Nwapa's works will be made even more widely available thanks to the digitisation.
Uzoma Nwakuche - Managing Director of Tana Press - had this to say about the exciting partnership:
We see the 50th anniversary of 'Efuru', Flora Nwapa's most well-known novel as the perfect opportunity to make this happen. Her titles in digital library will ensure continued access to individuals and institutions alike.While Gersy Ifeanyi Ejimofo - founder of Digitalback Books:
Signing an agreement for a number of Flora Nwapa's titles including her last unpublished work 'Lake Goddess' is an incredible milestone for us. We have a lot of contemporary writers on the platform, but Flora Nwapa's works will be our first from the legendary African Writers Series. I sincerely hope this will be the start of more African Classics being digitised and available to new audiences across African and globally.It's still unclear which of Flora Nwapa's titles - in addition to Lake Goddess - will be released but they will be available on Digitalback books from the end of October 2016.
