Flora Nwapa

Died October 16, 1993

Florence Nkiru Nwapa was an author best known for her novel Efuru. It was among the first English language novels by a woman of Africa Descent.

Flora as she was widely known was born in Oguta. Both of her parents, Christopher Ijeoma and Martha Nwapa, were teachers. She was educated at the University of Ibadan, receiving her B.A. in 1957. Nwapa continued her studies in England, earning in 1958 a degree in education from the University of Edinburgh.

She was a leading light to a generation of African women writers. She is best-known for recreating life and traditions from a woman's viewpoint. She has been called the mother of modern African literature.

Besides writing books, Nwapa established Tana Press, which published adult fiction. It was the first indigenous publishing house owned by a black African woman in West Africa. Flora also set up another publishing company, Flora Nwapa and Co., which specialized in children's fiction. She also is known for her governmental work in reconstruction after the Biafran War..

Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria. She was married to Gogo Nwakuche, an industrialist; they had three children.

Books
Never Again (African Women Writers)
Efuru
Idu (African Writers Series, 56)
Women Are Different (Africa Women Writers Series)
This Is Lagos and Other Stories (Africa Women Writers Series)
Wives at War and Other Stories (Africa Women Writers Series)
One Is Enough (Africa Women Writers Series)