Take the recently concluded “Game of Thrones”, based on George R.R. Martin‘s best-selling series “A Song of Ice and Fire”. It ended up becoming one of the greatest shows of all time.
This is why we are so excited to see books by Nigerian authors finally getting the recognition they deserve by being made into films.
This short list includes famous bestselling writers like Chimamanda Adichie, Tomi Adeyemi and Akwaeke Emezi.
Here are the three Nigerian books that are being made into TV shows and movies:
“Americanah” by Chimamanda Adichie
Lupita Nyong’o bought the film rights to Americanah back in 2014. Since then, she has been working on the screenplay with fellow “Black Panther” castmate, Danai Gurira.
During a recent Vogue magazine interview, the Kenyan actress said that Adichie’s novel is one of the exciting projects she has lined up for 2019.
In her words, “My dream project is finally getting to make Americanah [a 2013 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie], which is looking very, very likely.”
“It’s going to happen in the near future and it’s been a long time in the making and I’m very, very ripe and ready to get into that for sure,” she added.
It won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Fiction award and was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by the New York Times Book Review.
Americanah also won the New York book contest in 2017 and made it to the former U.S. President Barack Obama‘s list of his favourite books for 2018.
“Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi
In 2017, the Children of Blood and Bone trilogy scored a high-profile book deal and seven-figure movie deal.
With this, it easily became one of the most anticipated movie adaptation. Earlier this year, it was announced that Nigerian-American director, Rick Famuyiwa, will be in charge of this film adaptation.
He is popular for afro-centric films like “Dope” and “Brown Sugar”. It has also been reported that the film’s script is written by “Mary Poppins Returns” screenwriter David Magee.
Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the trilogy, had a 25-week run on the NY Times bestsellers list.
It has also been compared to the award-winning film, Black Panther, both by readers and Adeyemi herself.
“Children of Virtue and Vengeance”, the second book in the trilogy series, will be published June 4, 2019.
“Freshwater” by Akwaeke Emezi
News of the film adaption of the Nigerian-born author’s debut novel was revealed in an exclusive Variety report on May 22, 2019.
Freshwater will be brought to life on screen by FX, the network responsible for great shows like “Atlanta.”
Emezi is the writer and executive producer of the project. The film adaption will be done with Tamara P. Carter, an American screenwriter and director.
She has written for popular shows like HBO‘s drama “The Leftovers” and Freeform‘s “The Fosters.”
The novel is a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Award, the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction.
It was up for the prestigious 2019 Women’s prize for fiction and has been translated into eight languages. It is also a New York Times Notable Book.
Freshwater can easily be described as one of the most highly praised novels of the year.
Source: Pulse NG
