Paper Magazine released their Beautiful People 2006 list. The list features 23-year-old Harvard grad Uzodinma Iweala as one of talents to watch. The Nigerian-born writer has been receiving tons of accolades for his first novel Beasts of No Nation. From the NY Times to Entertainment Weekly to GQ, Iweala’s book is making quite an impact.
“Beasts of No Nation leaves the reader with one resonant, beautiful sentence that captures everything the author has set out to say. That sentence deserves to be read in the full context of this universal soldier’s story” – Janet Maslin – The New York Times
Beasts of No Nation tells the story of Agu, a young boy in an unidentified West African country who is conscripted into a rag-tag group of fighters in his nation’s civil war after fleeing his home—this before he witnesses his father’s murder at the hands of militants. The split between his harrowing reality and recollections of his former life underscores the darkness enveloping a young boy’s coming-of-age against the savage backdrop of war.
For many of us Africans the topic hits close to home and Iweala’s writing has brought it to the mainstream media.
