Joanna Biggs · Lady This and Princess That: On Buchi Emecheta lrb.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lrb.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The First Class Citizen: Buchi Emecheta (1944-2017), By Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi 7 min read
Even if Buchi described herself as a feminist with ‘a small F’, when she wrote, she was a ‘big F’. Her books were loud and clear about where she stood. Buchi’s story is one that has been told over the ages and will continue to echo. It is the story of many girls around the world. The story of a girl born into a hostile world that dared her to even exist.
On January 25, 2017, a vibrant citizen of the world and a great daughter of Africa, Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, was called home at the age of 73. Born into a humble Igbo family on July 21, 1944 in Lagos, she grew up knowing that she was expected to go through life as a ‘Second Class Citizen’, which was the title of one of the over twenty books she would write in her lifetime. Her parents preferred to educate her brother because he was male, fortunately, she was able to make a case for her education and she was rel