Season 3 Episode 10: In Conversation with Okechukwu Nzelu

This week I’m chatting with Okechukwu Nzelu about his wonderful debut novel The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, which was released by Dialogue Books in 2019. Set in Manchester, this heartwarming coming of age story features a wide cast of characters and explores issues of identity and race, sexuality, belonging, and mental health. Okechukwu and I explore some of these topics during our conversation, and Okechukwu also speaks about his next book, which is due for release in 2022.

From the publisher website:
Okechukwu Nzelu is a writer and teacher. In 2015 he was the recipient of a New Writing North Award. In 2020 his debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Polari First Book Prize. He lives in Manchester and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster.

About the book:
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.

Buy a copy of the book here.

Follow Okechukwu on Twitter and Instagram.