The book is about a south Indian essayist married to an east Nigerian woman, has been hailed by critics and readers alike. Shobhaa De has described it on her blog, as ‘promising’ and one of Nigeria’s finest critics, Toyin Akinosho has compared it to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.

In 2004, he was described in the Guardian as a ‘teenager with a steaming pen’. At age twelve, he won the THOMSON Short Story Prize and received a grant from the Institute for Research on African Women, Children and Culture (IRAWCC) based in the US and founded by Nigeria’s former Mineral Resources minister, Professor Leslye Obiora, presently of Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona at Tucson. His writing has appeared in Kafla InterContinental, Eclectica, Insurance & Money Weekly, Wild Goose Poetry Review and The Sun.

The Abyssinian Boy was completed in 2006, but published four years after in 2009 by DADA Books, publishers of Jumoke Verissimo’s best-selling collection of poems, I am Memory. It has been favourably reviewed by the Guardian, NEXT and by notable writers like Jude Dibia, Chika Unigwe, Clare Dudman, Arun Krishnan and has sparked up a cultural revolution in Nigeria between Indians and Nigerians.

He described the similarities between the cultures of India and Africa and he also noticed that in every Indian’s smile there is an African smile. He came to India in 2006 and exploring India from then. His novel is the outcome of his analysis of the Indian culture and merging with that of his culture.  Delhi is his favorite place in India and is very well portrayed in his novel. He wants to stay in India for a longer period, so has taken the decision to study in India next year.The welcome address was given by Renjini. A reporter from The Hindu joined for the interactive session. Dhanuraj greeted Oneyka for his work.

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