Uwem Akpan

Uwem Akpan is a Nigerian writer. He is the author of Say You’re One of Them, a collection of five stories published by Little, Brown & Company. It won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the PEN Open Book Award, and was picked by the Oprah Winfrey Book Club on September 17, 2009. Akpan said he was humbled to learn his debut collection of short stories had caught Winfrey's eye. Winfrey said that Say You're One of Them (published by Little, Brown, 2008), "left [her] stunned and profoundly moved." The five short stories give voice to an African child growing up in the face of incredible adversity.
Entertainment Weekly put the book on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying: "Against all odds, the Nigerian priest's searing African stories from 2008 imparted both joy and hope.”