I got acquainted with Chika Unigwe when I met her as my thesis advisor at Georgia College, where she teaches Creative Writing. That meeting prompted me to read her books, such as Better Never than Late, a collection of stories, and The Middle Daughter, a novel. Both works deeply influenced me, particularly in the way she weaves her narratives. Her lucid prose showed me how writing, using short sentences, can effectively and evocatively tell a powerful story in an engaging manner.

Most of her works reflect on mother-daughter relationships, sisterhood, race and patriarchy, cross-cultural identity, poverty, and feminism. As an academic, researcher, and writer from Nepal with a deep interest in marginalized narratives, I was drawn to her stories, which ultimately prompted me to reach out to Chika for this interview.

A Nigerian writer, Unigwe’s fiction explores themes of migration, identity, and the complexities of womanhood in African and European societies. She is the author of On Black Sisters’ Street, which won the 2012 Nigeria Prize for Literature, and The Middle Daughter (2023), a reimagining of the myth of Hades and Persephone set in contemporary Nigeria. The book was also nominated for the Townsend Prize. She holds a PhD in Literature from the University of Leiden and currently teaches Creative Writing at Georgia College.

In this interview, I have attempted to explore who Chika Unigwe is beyond being a writer—her writing process, how her work engages with cultural identity and marginalized voices, her sources of inspiration, her craft, and her message for aspiring writers

Please click here for her full interview.