Helon Habila

Op Wednesday 19 February the Nigerian author Helon Habila will appear at the literary salon of BorderKitchen to talk about his new novel Oil on Water. He will be interviewed in English by Toef Jaeger.

Helon Habila (born in 1967) began his career as a journalist in Nigeria. He has lived in Lagos, Norwich, New York, Washington and Berlin, and currently resides in Virginia, where he teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University. Habila has received multiple awards for his poetry and prose and wrote Waiting for an Angel and Measuring Time before Oil on Water was published.

The young Nigerian Rufus in Oil on Water works as a journalist. Together with his journalistic role model Zaq, he travels into the Niger Delta in search of the kidnapped wife of a wealthy British petrochemical engineer. What initially appears to be a “simple kidnapping”, in which ransom will be paid once proof is provided that the woman is still alive, turns into a complex and life-threatening quest through an oil-polluted environment. The journalists face illness, encounter the last remaining inhabitants of impoverished abandoned villages, and are taken captive by Nigerian soldiers. The result is a gripping story with a bleak message about oil pollution in Nigeria.

Oil on Water is translated from English by Aleid Van Eekelen-Benders (original title Oil on Water) and is published by Nieuw Amsterdam. The interview is conducted by NRC journalist Toef Jaeger. If you would like to read the book in advance, you can buy it at bookshop Paagman.

Date: Wednesday 19 February
Location: BorderKitchen Salon, Kerkstraat 11, 2514 KP The Hague
Start: 20.00
Tickets (€5) can be reserved via info@borderkitchen.nl or during office hours at 070-3462355

Press on Oil on Water by Helon Habila:

"A thrilling, beautifully written novel about an important subject." – Trouw

"In a sparse style Habila evokes an oppressive atmosphere that strongly recalls the classic Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Colourful and bizarre characters pass before the reader." – De Volkskrant

"Thanks to Habila’s talent this does not become a simplistic black-and-white story. He tells it in a highly ingenious way, through shifting observations, impressions and flashbacks in time that eventually interlock like a beautifully closed chain." – Knack