Helon Habila to begin latest book tour

Nigerian award-winning author, Helon Habila, is set to tour on his new novel, ‘Travelers’, due to be released this month. The tour, which will begin on June 19 in New York, United States will see the author visiting eight other locations within the country between June and July. Described as “a startlingly imaginative exploration of […]

Nigerian award-winning author, Helon Habila, is set to tour on his new novel, ‘Travelers’, due to be released this month.

The tour, which will begin on June 19 in New York, United States will see the author visiting eight other locations within the country between June and July.

Described as “a startlingly imaginative exploration of the African diaspora in Europe,” and “a life-changing encounter with those who have been uprooted by war or aspiration, fear or hope,” ‘Travelers’ tells the story of a Nigerian graduate student who has made his home in America. When his wife proposes that he accompany her to Berlin, where she has been awarded a prestigious arts fellowship, he has his reservations.

In Berlin, Habila’s central character finds himself thrown into contact with a community of African immigrants and refugees whose lives previously seemed distant from his own, but to which he is increasingly drawn. The walls between his privileged, secure existence and the stories of these other Africans on the move soon crumble, and his sense of identity begins to dissolve as he finds that he can no longer separate himself from others’ horrors, or from Africa.

‘Travelers’ has already been listed among BBC Culture’s Ten Books to Read in June.

Born in Nigeria, Habila is author of three novels, ‘Measuring Time’, ‘Oil on Water’ and ‘Waiting for an Angel’. His book, ‘The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamic Militancy in Nigeria’ was published in 2016.