When We Were Fireflies

Nigerian writer and journalist Abubakar Adam Ibrahim is the author of The Whispering Trees (2012), Season of Crimson Blossoms (2015), and Dreams and Assorted Nightmares (2022). The newest title from the multiple award winner (including the Nigerian Prize for Literature) is When We Were Fireflies, which follows brooding artist Yarima Lalo – who has had several lives – and Aziza, an older woman who he meets in one of his previous lives. The Abujan writes sensitive, fully fleshed-out characters and this is as unputdownable as his previous titles. Read an excerpt from our friends at the Johannesburg Review of Books by clicking here.