5 influential Nigerian female authors worthy of recognition

International women's day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the globe.

Here's a list of 5 influential Nigerian female authors worthy of recognition.

1. Chimamanda Adichie

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an author that should be on everyone's reading list.

She was selected by fellow Nigerian Bibi Bakare-Yusuf for the way “she has taken African literature further into the Western mainstream and made it a must-have fashion accessory, to be sampled by the likes of Beyoncé and loved by Dior and Vogue.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's battle cry that We Should All Be Feminists has never been more poignant.

ALSO READ: Nigerian novelist elected into American academy of arts and letters

2. Florence Nwapa

Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa, Africa’s first internationally published female novelist in the English language, was a Nigerian writer, teacher and administrator, as well as a forerunner of a generation of African women writers best-known for broaching the topics of African life and traditions from a woman’s viewpoint.

3. Adaobi Nwanbuai

Novelist, journalist and essayist who from an early age demonstrated an affinity for the written word, Adaobi Nwanbuai, won her first writing prize at age 13.

4. Buchi Emecheta

Nigerian-born novelist Buchi Emecheta was considered one of Nigeria's most distinguished literary names.

Emecheta described her novels as “stories of the world,” but from a female perspective.

Many of her works are autobiographical in nature, feminist in spirit, and portray a place in which the cruelties of European colonisation endure for generations.

5. Amina Mama

Widely published Nigerian/British feminist activist, researcher and scholar, Amina Mama, has lived and worked Nigeria, South Africa, Britain, the Netherlands and the USA. She spent 10 years leading the establishment of the University of Cape Town’s African Gender Institute as a continental resource dedicated to developing transformative scholarship bringing feminist theory and activism together.

Mama is the author and editor of a range of books and articles on state feminism, militarism, colonialism, feminist methodologies grounded in African contexts.

Happy International women's day!