NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names

Madeleine Wilson (University of New South Wales)

Ed. by Helen Rachel Cousins, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication May 2013

Places

Zimbabwe (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel

We Need New Names

(2013) is a significant contribution to contemporary African literature in terms of its nuanced portrayal of the migrant experience of its teenager protagonist, Darling, who is sent to America to live with relatives in the hope of a more prosperous life. Bulawayo’s close attention to the experiences of women and girls in Zimbabwe and the United States carves out a space to discuss the specific pressures placed on them both in the postcolony and in the diaspora.

We Need New Names

won the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Guardian First Book Award, and was mentioned on the New York Times Notable Books list for 2013. The first chapter of the novel, “Hitting Budapest”, had been…

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2032 words

Citation: Wilson, Madeleine. "We Need New Names". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 November 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35769, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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