Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s first novel, Blessings, about love in a hostile climate, was written after a life-changing encounter with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Shortly after his 18th birthday, Chukwuebuka Ibeh embarked on his first trip outside his home city of Port Harcourt. He drove more than eight hours north to Lagos for a 10-day creative writing workshop led by fellow Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of Half of a Yellow Sun.

It was a life-changing event for Ibeh, who last year published his own novel, Blessings, at the age of 24.