And Then He Sang a Lullaby

January 1, 2023

Track star August left Enugu City, Nigeria, for one of the country's universities far from his domineering sisters and thoughts of the mother he never knew, and he's doing pretty well, making friends and enjoying his studies. But he feels relentlessly pulled toward the openly gay Segun, who works at a local cybercafe and won't get involved unless August can commit wholeheartedly. Then Nigeria's notorious antigay laws are passed. The inaugural title in Roxane Gay's new imprint.

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April 17, 2023
Nigerian writer Ani's auspicious debut chronicles the hope and pain of two queer students as they embark on a forbidden relationship at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. August has always struggled to live up to his “venerable” name, feeling “he was unworthy of anything but failure.” After August meets Segun at a cybercafé, he has frequent thoughts about the other man and revisits the café to see him again. But with homosexuality being illegal, August tells Segun, “I don’t know how to live this life.” Segun, in contrast, refuses to be ashamed of who he is. He’s also had his share of difficulties, having dealt with an abusive relationship and bullying from roommates. Then, after August and Segun split up, Segun is attacked. The incident prompts August to give up his self-loathing, acknowledge his sexuality, and redouble his efforts to be with Segun. In emotionally fraught scenes, Ani lays bare the characters’ fragile states, with August grappling with his fear and excitement after a kiss or Segun processing his anger over past abuses. This timely and striking love story resonates with authenticity. Agent: Emma Shercliff, Laxfield Literary Assoc.

May 1, 2023
A debut coming-of-age love story about two young queer men in Nigeria. The debut novel from 23-year-old author and activist Ani follows two young men growing up in contemporary Nigeria. August is the only son of a woman who died after bearing him; he was raised by his father--"a ghost for whom life held no more surprises, or disappointments, no pain or happiness"-- and three doting sisters. He's not the best student, but he's a track star and popular with his schoolmates, although he's still haunted by the death of his mother, feeling "pangs of incompleteness, an almost, something he should feel that he never would, someone he knew enough to love but never met." Segun is quiet and sensitive, "a boy who naturally attracted attention. The way he walked, the way he talked, his gesticulation." He's bullied in school because of his effeminate nature; changing schools doesn't help. The two young men meet each other at the University of Nigeria and fall for each other, but there's a big complication: August is bisexual but closeted, while Segun refuses to deny that he's queer. August "had come to accept certain things about himself, certain walls he was not allowed to look over, and now Segun demanded August take a bulldozer and bring it all down." Segun, for his part, tells August, "I've waged my own war with myself and my shame. I cannot deal with yours. I won't." The young men's relationship is tested when Segun is brutally beaten in a homophobic attack--it won't be the last time he's targeted by violence. Ani's novel is undoubtedly sincere, filled with a justifiably righteous anger over anti-gay hate crimes, and it's apparent he cares about his characters. But they're not fleshed out quite enough, leaning too close to archetypes. The writing is competent but uninspired, the plot formulaic, and the dialogue unrealistic. The author shows promise, but the novel feels like a first draft, though certainly a well-intentioned one. Earnest but underdeveloped.

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May 15, 2023
Ani Kayode Somtochukwu's debut novel, the first book from Roxane Gay's imprint, follows the lives of two young gay men in contemporary Nigeria. Before August was born, his mother was told she wouldn't survive another pregnancy. She tried for a boy anyway and died soon after giving birth to August, who carries the guilt of her death throughout his life. The son of activists who protest the privatization of Nigerian industries, Segun is bullied in school, targeted for being gay even as a young child. Segun protests Nigeria's ban on gay marriage as his college classmates react with violent attacks. August wrestles with internalized shame at his feelings for Segun while passing for straight among his friends and family. Both young men face life in a society that seeks not just to deny, but to punish, their existence. And Then He Sang a Lullaby is driven by deeply drawn characters and a clear sense of place. The novel will resonate with readers in the current moment of rising anti-LGBTQ legislation and violence.

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Starred review from May 1, 2023

DEBUT In this first novel from Ani, an award-winning Nigerian poet, essayist, and queer liberation activist, August sensed abandonment from the moment of his birth, his mother dead from labor and his father emotionally absent after the loss of his wife. The love of his sisters could not assuage his guilt or the burdensome responsibility of carrying on the Akasike name. Segun, in contrast, hailed from parents so committed to politics and each other that they dismissed the bullies who targeted their son's effeminate mannerisms. Each boy entered his teens questioning his sexuality, August in a loving but unconsummated friendship that filled him with shame and Segun in an all-consuming physical affair that ended in tragedy, imbuing him with rage. When they inevitably meet at university, they circle each other warily, neither sure who the other truly is. Their achingly beautiful love story probes the fraught existence of queer people everywhere but particularly in 2014 Nigeria after the passage of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act. Faced with the scorn of their classmates and the threat of prison sentence, August and Segun navigate the shoals of their relationship in ways both devastating and inspiring. VERDICT This inaugural title in Roxane Gay's new imprint with Grove Atlantic is a compelling, mature work of narrative grace.--Sally Bissell

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