(BOOK SHELF): Chinelo Okparanta's "Happiness, Like Water"

Shortlisted for this year's Caine Prize for African writing, Okparanta's debut of short stories published August 13, 2013 by Houghton Mifflin, was based on her personal influences and upbringing. "I am from a family of many, many women, and so, clearly that opens up my eyes to the issues that women have with their mothers," Okparanta tells Celeste Headlee of Tell Me More. Born in Nigeria and moved to the US at 10 with her Jehovah Witness practicing parents which she no longer practices says portraying Nigeria in the "negative light" in her stories was the simple truth.

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