Queer Bookclub #38– ‚Under the Udala Trees’ by Chinelo Okparanta

Join us to discuss queer books! For our next book, we will be reading “Under the Udala Trees” by Chinelo Okparanta.

Blurb:
Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and its war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly.

Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls.

When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.

As Edwidge Danticat has made personal the legacy of Haiti's political coming of age, Okparanta's Under the Udala Trees uses one woman's lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are also wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. This story offers a glimmer of hope — a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

The Plan
19:00 Meeting @ the venue
19:15 Discussion
20:45 Choosing a book for October
21:00 End

Dinner
The venue will be announced in the WhatsApp group chat.

What to do
1. RSVP on this event page.
2. Read the book :) and think about your suggestion for the discussion in October!
3. Come to the event and share your thoughts about the book with us.
4. Please enable DMs from other members and turn on notifications so that our team can communicate with you.
Hope to see you there!
Amy (she/they) & Izabella (she/her)

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