​
Helon Habila is that rare combination of storyteller and stylist who challenges expectations while deepening our empathy for ordinary people confronting extraordinary times.
Windham-Campbell Prize Citation
"On April 15, 2014, 267 girls from the Chibok Secondary School in northern Nigeria were kidnapped by Boko Haram, the world's deadliest terrorist group. Acclaimed Nigerian novelist Helon Habila tracks down some of the escaped girls and their families to hear their stories and to offer the most complete and intimate account yet of this horrible tragedy that stunned the world. Through their personal stories, Habila offers readers a better understanding of the religious wars that have ravaged his country, of which Boko Haram is just another phase in an endless battle between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria."