Audiobooks narrated by Akin Omotoso

"‘A vital work for our times’ IRENOSEN OKOJIE 'Beautiful … this is prose worth spending time with' MARIE CLAIRE ‘A gorgeously deeply humane book’ NICOLE DENNIS-BENN 'A vivid, stirring revolution' YRSA DALEY-WARD ‘The ink practically hovers off the page’ KAVEH AKBAR What makes a family? How is it defined and by whom? Is freedom for everyone? Across Lagos, a rolling cast of unforgettable characters seek out love in all its forms, daring to push all other relationships – with partners, family and friends – to the brink in the process. As they form and break unexpected connections, they reveal how they know each other, have loved each other and had their hearts broken in that pursuit. Stubbornly alive and brazenly flawed, they work to establish themselves in the city’s worlds of art, music, entertainment and creativity while reckoning with desire, fear, death and God. Here, we witness their collective and individual attempts to grapple with the necessary fictions that they all carry for survival. This is a shimmering, defiant cross-generational portrait of what it means to be queer in contemporary Nigeria. 'Both deeply earnest and unique' VULTURE 'Unabashedly queer, complicated and occasionally outright hopeful' NPR 'Osunde is brilliant at character, giving the cast rich, knotty backstories that unfold in bursts of revelation' TLS ‘Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive’ MARLON JAMES 'Osunde’s writing shines … It’s not just beautiful – it’s transformative’ BASSEY IKPI"

Eloghosa Osunde (Author), Akin Omotoso, Anthony Oseyemi, Arit Okpo, Atta Otigba, A’rese Emokpae, David Ijiti, Ifeyinwa Unachukwu, Jerry Iwu, Leo Anifowose, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Tumi Olufawo, Uzoamaka Power (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood Slaves

"For readers of Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, this ingenious reimagining of the vampire origin story set during the early days of American slavery blends alternate history with supernatural horror, as the last surviving member of an ancient African vampire tribe meets a slave desperate for freedom, and together, they lead an army of enslaved people in a cinematically blood-soaked battle for freedom and revenge. What if nobody ever freed the slaves … because they freed themselves—150 years before the Civil War? In the Province of Carolina, 1710, freedom seems unattainable for Willie, for his beloved Gertie, and for their unborn child. They live, suffer, and toil under their brutal master, James “Big Jim” Barrow, whose grand plantation was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of the enslaved. To flee this hell on earth is be hunted and killed. Until one strange night Willie is offered a dark hope by Rafazi, an enigmatic slave with an irresistible and blood-chilling path to liberation. Hailing from the Kingdom of Ghana, Rafazi is the lone survivor of the Ramanga, an African vampire tribe rendered nearly extinct by plague. Rafazi has roamed the world for centuries with an undying desire to replenish the power that once defined his heritage. In Willie, Rafazi has found his first biddable subject to be turned and to help in a hungry revolt. And Willie desires nothing more than to free his people from malicious bondage. Whatever it takes. One by one, as an army of blood slaves thirsting for revenge is gathered, the headstrong Gertie fears that no good can come from the vampiric legacy that courses through Rafazi’s veins. Willie knows that only evil can fight evil. And when the woman he loves stands between the reemergence of the Ramanga and the justified slaughter of the oppressors, Willie must make an irreversible decision. Only one thing is certain: on the Barrow plantation, and beyond, blood will spill. Part historical drama, part supernatural horror, and part alternate history, Blood Slaves is an ingenuous and defiant new creation myth of the vampire, one rooted in both justice and the sometimes-violent means necessary to achieve it."

Markus Redmond (Author), Akin Omotoso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Unfinished Business

"Dead pastors. Corrupt government officials. And over 100 million dollars unaccounted for. Amaka is back in this electrifying third instalment in the Amaka Thrillers series. A frantic phone call interrupts Amaka Mbadiwe’s new life in London. A renowned pastor has been assassinated in his hotel room while one of her girls, Funke, hides naked and terrified inside a sofa. Amaka is headed back to Lagos, and to a new world of private jets, money-laundering and mega-churches. With her trusted ally Police Inspector Ibrahim out of the country, and the hostile Inspector Musa breathing down her neck, Amaka must race against the clock to rescue Funke and untangle this twisted web of religion, power and politics. With a punishing intensity, full of twists and turns, Unfinished Business oscillates with scandal, corruption and sleaze."

Leye Adenle (Author), Akin Omotoso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria's Queer Men Speak

"Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria’s Queer Men Speak is a raw and powerful collection of 25 first-person narratives that explore the diverse experience of queer Nigerian men. These stirring stories cut across age, class, religion, ethnicity, family and relationships, offering a glimpse into what it means to survive as a queer man in Nigeria. From Tunji, who takes us back to the thriving networking community before social media, to Chukwori, who struggles to reconcile his need to serve God with his sexuality, and Abdulkarim, who frustratingly wonders if he’ll ever stop working twice as hard to be accepted, these stories are full of contradictions, anger, resiliency, profound insight, and radical hope. With heightened levels of oppression, violence, and discrimination faced by LGBTQ Nigerians due to the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Law, these voices remind us of what the queer community in Nigeria has always been fighting for—the freedom to be themselves, love themselves, and love each other, despite being viewed as unworthy. Love Offers No Safety is a heartbreaking yet hopeful reminder that love knows no boundaries and offers no safety, but it is worth fighting for. 'Told from the points of view of gay, queer, and bisexual men spread across Nigeria from the South to the North, [Love Offers No Safety] will provide insight and open up conversations around this misunderstood demography.'—Toni Kan, author of The Carnivorous City and Nights of the Creaking Bed"

Jude Dibia, Olumide F. Makanjuola (Author), Akin Omotoso, Anthony Oseyemi (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Carnivorous City

"Rabato Sabato aka Soni Dike is a Lagos big boy; a criminal turned grandee, with a beautiful wife, a sea-side mansion and a questionable fortune. Then one day he disappears and his car is found in a ditch, music blaring from the speakers. Soni’s older brother, Abel Dike, a teacher, arrives in Lagos to look for his missing brother. Abel is rapidly sucked into the unforgiving Lagos maelstrom where he has to navigate encounters with a motley cast of common criminals, deal with policemen all intent on getting a piece of the pie, and contend with his growing attraction for his brother’s wife. Carnivorous City is a story about love, family and just desserts but it is above all a tale about Lagos and the people who make the city by the lagoon what it is."

Toni Kan (Author), Akin Omotoso (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Small Silence

"Imprisoned for ten years for his rage against society, activist and retired academic Prof resolves to live a life of darkness after his release from prison. He holes up in his apartment, pushing away friends and family, and embraces his status as an urban legend in the neighbourhood until a knock at the door shakes his new existence. His new visitor is Desire, an orphan and final year student, who has grown up idolising Prof, following a fateful encounter in her hometown of Maroko as a child. Tentatively, the two begin to form a bond, as she returns every night at 9pm to see him. However, the darkness of the room becomes a steady torment, that threatens to drive Desire away for good. A Small Silence is an intimate and evocative debut that charges us to look again at the alienating effects of trauma and the power of solitude and darkness to ignite the imagination."

Jumoke Verissimo (Author), Akin Omotoso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nights of the Creaking Bed

"Nights of the Creaking Bed is full of colorful characters involved in affecting dramas: a girl who is rejected in love because she has three brothers to look after; a middle aged housewife who finds love again but has an impossible decision to make; a young man who can't get the image of his naked, beautiful mother out of his mind; a child so poor he has to hawk onions on Christmas day - and many others. Some, initially full of hope, find their lives blighted by the cruelty of others, or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or by just not knowing the 'right' people. Corruption, religious intolerance, gratuitous violence, the irresponsible attitudes of some men to their offspring and the importance of joy are some of the big themes that underlie this memorable collection."

Toni Kan (Author), Akin Omotoso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Akin Omotoso