University News

Oprah Book Club Highlights Former Student

Nigerian-born author Uwem Akpan, a Jesuit priest who studied English and philosophy at Creighton, had his collection of short stories — titled Say You’re One of Them — chosen by talk show host Oprah Winfrey for her popular book club.

The book’s five short, fictional stories have been heralded by reviewers for their powerful, gritty, personal look at the poverty, strife and violence affecting some of the most troubled regions of Africa. Each story is written from the perspective of children.

“My Parents’ Bedroom,” one of the stories from the collection, which deals with tribal conflict in Rwanda, was chosen as a finalist for The Caine Prize for African Writing in 2007. Say You’re One of Them won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

“Each one of these stories really just left me gasping,” Winfrey said on her website. The New York Times called the book a “startling debut collection” and Entertainment Weekly raved, “awe is the only appropriate response to Uwem Akpan’s stunning debut.”