Join us for this in person Meet the Author event with Okechukwu Nzelu. Okechukwu will talk about his remarkable debut novel The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney.

As Nnenna Maloney approaches womanhood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.

Nnenna is asking big questions of how to ‘be’ when she doesn’t know the whole of who she is. Meanwhile, Joanie wonders how to love when she has never truly been loved. Their lives are filled with a cast of characters asking similar questions about identity and belonging whilst grappling with the often hilarious encounters of everyday Manchester.

Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a funny and heart-warming story that covers the expanse of race, gender, class, family and redemption, with a fresh and distinctive new voice. Perfect for fans of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth.

This is an in-person event, taking place at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Manchester Poetry Library, ground floor of the Grosvenor building: Visit Us · Manchester Metropolitan University (mmu.ac.uk)