Zaynab Alkali

Zaynab Alkali
Born	1950[1]
Nationality	Nigeria
Education	Bayero University Kano
Known for	first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria
Spouse(s)	Mohammed nur Alkali
Children	six

Zaynab Alkali (born 1950 Tura-Wazila, Borno State) is a Nigerian novelist, poet, short story writer.^[2][3][1] She is regarded as the first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria.

Life

Alkali was born in Tura-Wazila in Borno State in 1950. She graduated from Bayero University Kano with a BA in 1973.^[4] She obtained a doctorate in African Studies in the same university and became the principal of Sakera Girls' boarding school. She went on to be a lecturer in English at two universities in Nigeria.^[5]

She rose to be a dean in the Faculty of arts at Nasarawa State University in Keffi where she taught creative writing.^[5]

She is regarded as the first woman novelist from Northern Nigeria.^[1]

Works

• The Stillborn, Lagos: Longman (Drumbeats), 1984, ISBN 978-0-582-78600-4^[6]
• The Virtuous Woman, Longman Nigeria, 1987, ISBN 978-978-139-589-5
• Cobwebs & Other Stories, Lagos: Malthouse Press, 1997, ISBN 978-978-0230296.
• The Descendants, Tamaza, 2005, ISBN 978-978-2104-73-1
• The Initiates, 2007, ISBN 978-978-029-767-1.

Edited

• Zaynab Alkali, Al Imfeld (eds), Vultures in the Air: Voices from Northern Nigeria, Ibadan-Kaduna-Lagos: Spectrum Books, 1995, ISBN 978-978-2462-60-2

References

1. Zainab Alkali, SIU.edu
2. Pushpa Naidu Parekh, Siga Fatima Jagne, eds. (1998). "Zaynab Alkali". Postcolonial African Writers: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29056-5.
3. "Zaynab Alkali". Ips.siu.edu. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
4. Margaret Busby, Daughters of Africa, London: Cape, 1992, p. 782.
5. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
6. Dearborn Financial Publishing, 1988; London: Longman, 1989; Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1990; Longman International Education. 1995

External links

• Africanwriter.com
• Ips.siu.edu
• Sumaila Umaisha, "Zaynab Alkali chats with KASU students", 5 January 2011.
• Jstor.org