Google Celebrates Buchi Emecheta’s Birthday

Today, the 21sth of July is the posthumous birthday of Nigerian-born British writer, Florence Onyebuchi “Buchi” Emecheta. And Google is celebrating her with a Doodle illustration.

Buchi Emecheta 75th Birthday – Google

Emecheta was born on 21 July 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria to Igbo parents, Alice (Okwuekwuhe) Emecheta and Jeremy Nwabudinke, both parents from Ibusa, Delta State. She died in London, England on January 25, 2017.

Emecheta was regarded by many as the most important female African writer. She was awarded the order of the British Empire (OBE), for her services to literature. She features at number 98 on a list of 100 women recognized in August 2018 by BBC History Magazine as having changed the world.

Interestingly, Emecheta whose works explore the themes of child slavery, motherhood, female independence, and freedom, refused to be tagged a feminist.

“I work toward the liberation of women, but I’m not feminist. I’m just a woman.” She said.

“Black women all over the world should re-unite and re-examine the way history has portrayed us. Being a woman writer, I would be deceiving myself if I said I write completely through the eye of a man. There’s nothing bad in it, but that does not make me a feminist writer. I hate that name. The tag is from the Western world – like we are called the Third World.”

Emecheta has inspired a lot of writers, male and female alike. Malam Denja Abdullahi, president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) had this to say about her:

“She inspired a lot of female writers like Chimanmada Ngozi, Ifoma Okoye and many others. So in a way, she has replaced herself with them and other people that draw inspiration from a work. Her works would forever live to speak for her”

Some of Emecheta’s notable works are The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and The Rape of Shavi (1983)