PHOTO KELECHI OKERE
On a muddy road after rainfall, under the branches of an udala tree, a young Christian Igbo housegirl named Ijeoma meets another girl, Amina, a Muslim Hausa, and brings her home. Their meeting proves to be a key moment in Chinelo Okparanta’s debut novel, a coming-of-age story about same-sex love and desire that encompasses both great joy and terrible heartache.
Beginning in 1968, during the height of the Nigerian civil war, Under The Udala Trees is a deeply socio-political book. “I wanted to ground my story in an important moment in Nigeria’s history,” Okparanta explains of the historical setting, “so that the story of the LGBTQ community would be more loudly heard. It was a way of saying, yes, gays and lesbians existed during the war. Yes, they made love during the war. Yes, they ate and bathed and breathed during the war, just like anyone else.”