Walking on Cowrie Shells

‘Nkweti’s lyrical linguistic choices aptly charm the tongue and help to deliver a performance, which is fitting for this collection of stories, because they all fizzle across genre and cultural boundaries.’ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdx6Q3IAl7p/?hl=en -- @taslima * Instagram * ‘I loved Kweti’s nuanced insights.’ https://www.instagram.com/p/CcjKvKCL9dt/?hl=en -- @barrettbookreviews * Instagram * ‘The world needs more books like this which hold a sharp yet empathetic torch to the Black experience.’ https://www.instagram.com/p/CcIu0CDq0zK/?hl=en -- @canreadwillread * Instagram * What to read when 2021 is just around the corner ‘In her powerful, genre-bending debut story collection, Nana Nkweti mixes deft realism with clever inversions of genre.’ https://therumpus.net/2020/12/what-to-read-when-2021-is-just-around-the-corner/ * The Rumpus * Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2021 Book Preview ‘This dazzler of a debut shines a spotlight on lives that bridge the divide between the cultures of Cameroon and America.’ https://themillions.com/2021/01/most-anticipated-the-great-first-half-2021-book-preview.html * The Millions * Starred review ‘Boisterous and high-spirited debut stories by a talented new writer.’ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nana-nkweti/walking-on-cowrie-shells/ * Kirkus Reviews * ‘This is a groundbreaking and vital work.’ Starred Review https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781644450543 * Publisher's Weekly * May/June 2021 issue ‘A vivacious collection with sentences that sizzle on the page. . . . Nkweti’s book is sharp and gorgeous.’ * Women's Review of Books * Nana Nkweti’s Walking on Cowrie Shells Offers Diverse and Complex Story-worlds ‘Nkweti’s writing is a gem. Funny and loaded with turns of phrases, it incites chuckles and some laughs but also tears and wonder.’ https://brittlepaper.com/2021/05/nana-nkwetis-walking-on-cowrie-shells-offers-diverse-and-complex-story-worlds/ -- Ainehi Edoro * Brittle Paper * Exerpt: The Statistician’s Wife https://www.afreada.com/stories/the-statisticians-wife * Afreada * 10 Debut Books to Read This June Everything Nkweti does feels completely refreshing as she twists and turns the expectations of what a short story can be. https://debutiful.net/2021/06/01/10-debut-books-to-read-this-june/ * Debutiful * Starred Review: Walking on Cowrie Shells ‘a cluster of 10 dazzling stories that are as diverse as they are vibrant.’ https://bookpage.com/reviews/26294-nana-nkweti-walking-cowrie-shells-fiction#.YJPdiy9Q0UG -- Matthew jackson * Bookpage * 10 Short Story Collections to Read This Summer: For Short Trips and Taking Sips ‘acrobatic and delightful prose’ https://lithub.com/10-short-story-collections-to-read-this-summer/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hub%20Daily:%20June%203%2C%202021&utm_term=lithub_master_list -- Kerri Arsenault * Literary Hub * 20 Best New Books of June 2021 https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g36518074/best-new-books-june-2021/?utm_campaign=socialflowTWOPR&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=twitter * Oprah Daily * These Stories Dance Deftly Between America And Cameroon ‘WALKING ON COWRIE SHELLS is a terrific read, each story different and varied from the one before. Nkweti has proven herself a bright new star.’ https://www.npr.org/2021/06/07/1003380153/these-stories-dance-deftly-between-america-and-cameroon -- Martha Anne Toll * NPR * Briefly Noted ‘Lively and fast-paced, funny and tragic, these stories refuse a singular African experience in favor of a vivid plurality.’ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/14/phase-six-walking-on-cowrie-shells-the-house-of-fragile-things-and-there-plant-eyes * The New Yorker * Review: Nana Nkweti’s Tales of Cameroonians at Home and in America https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/books/review/walking-on-cowrie-shells-nana-nkweti.html -- Deesha Philvaw * The New York Times * Review: Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti ‘The complexity, ambition, variety – it’s a debut collection that sings from the page, story after story.’ https://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/book-reviews/walking-on-cowrie-shells-by-nana-nkweti -- Heather McDaid * The skinny * ‘What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in June’ ‘It’s rare to read such a wide-ranging collection, especially one this short. Nkweti jumps from genre to genre as if bored with perfecting them, from horror to sci-fi, YA to mythical romance.’ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/30/what-were-reading-writers-and-readers-on-the-books-they-enjoyed-in-june?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks -- Gurnaik Johal * The Guardian * ‘With all these familiar horrors, who in the hell was going to believe in zombies?’—An excerpt from Nana Nkweti’s debut Walking on Cowrie Shells https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/2023/02/17/with-all-these-familiar-horrors-who-in-the-hell-was-going-to-believe-in-zombies-read-an-excerpt-from-nana-nkwetis-debut-short-story-collection-walking-on-cowrie-sh/ * The Johannesburg Review *