Zaynab Alkali

Zaynab Alkali (born 1950 Tura-Wazila, Borno State) is a Nigerian novelist, poet and short story writer.[3][4][1] She is regarded as the first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria. Zaynab Alkali was appointed as the Chairperson of National Library Board by Honorable Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu on Thursday 22nd March 2018[5]

Zaynab Alkali
Born1950[1]
Tura-Wazila, Borno state[2]
NationalityNigerian
EducationBayero University Kano
Known forfirst woman novelist from Northern Nigeria
Spouse(s)Mohammed Nur Alkali
Childrensix

Life

Alkali was born in Tura-Wazila in Borno State in 1950. She graduated from Bayero University Kano with a BA in 1973.[6] She obtained a doctorate in African Studies in the same university and became the principal of Shekara Girls' Boarding School. She went on to be a lecturer in English at two universities in Nigeria.[7]

She married the former Vice-chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Mohammed Nur Alkali, and they had six children[8].

She rose to be a dean in the Faculty of arts at Nasarawa State University in Keffi, where she taught creative writing.[7]

She is regarded as the first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria.[1]

Works
  • The Stillborn, Lagos: Longman (Drumbeats), 1984, ISBN 978-0-582-78600-4[9]
  • The Virtuous Woman, Longman Nigeria, 1987, ISBN 978-978-139-589-5[10]
  • Cobwebs & Other Stories, Lagos: Malthouse Press, 1997, ISBN 978-978-0230296.
  • The Descendants, Tamaza, 2005, ISBN 978-978-2104-73-1
  • The Initiates, 2007, ISBN 978-978-029-767-1.

Career

She worked in the University of Maiduguri as a senior lecturer in the English department where she worked for twenty years. Later on she left the University of Maiduguri to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in Abuja, where she worked for three years until she left to work at Nasarawa State University.[11]

Edited
  • Zaynab Alkali, Al Imfeld (eds.), Vultures in the Air: Voices from Northern Nigeria, Ibadan-Kaduna-Lagos: Spectrum Books, 1995, ISBN 978-978-2462-60-2

Awards

Association of Nigerian Authors(ANA) Literary Prize, 1985[12]

References
  1. Zainab Alkali, SIU.edu
  2. Galleria, Nigeria. "Nigeria Personality Profile". Nigeria Galleria. Galleria Media Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  3. Pushpa Naidu Parekh, Siga Fatima Jagne, eds. (1998). "Zaynab Alkali". Postcolonial African Writers: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29056-5.CS1 maint: uses editors parameter (link)
  4. "Zaynab Alkali". Ips.siu.edu. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  5. "National Library of Nigeria". www.nln.gov.ng. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  6. Margaret Busby, Daughters of Africa, London: Cape, 1992, p. 782.
  7. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  8. Galleria, Nigeria. "Nigeria Personality Profiles". Nigeria Galleria. Galleria Media Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  9. Dearborn Financial Publishing, 1988; London: Longman, 1989; Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1990; Longman International Education. 1995
  10. Alkali, Zaynab (1987). The virtuous woman. Ikeja, Nigeria: Longman Nigeria. OCLC 610411707.
  11. Nigeria, Galleria. "Nigeria Personality Profiles". Galleria Media Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  12. Nigeria, Galleria. "Nigeria Personalities Profiles". Nigeria Galleria. Galleria Media Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.