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Elnathan John

Born

Kaduna, Nigeria

Website

http://www.elnathanjohn.com/

Genre

Fiction

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Elnathan is a writer and lawyer living in spaces between in Nigeria and Germany. Mostly.

His works have appeared in Hazlitt, Per Contra, Le Monde Diplomatique, FT and the Caine Prize for African Writing anthology 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He writes weekly political satire for the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust on Sunday (and any other publication that PAYS him). Except you are The New Yorker, he considers it violence of unimaginable proportions to ask him to write for free. He has never won anything. This record was almost disrupted by the Caine Prize when they accidentally allowed his story on the shortlist in 2013 and again in 2015. Of course, both times, he did not win. He has been shortlisted and longlisted for a few other prizes, but Elnathan is a writer and lawyer living in spaces between in Nigeria and Germany. Mostly.

His works have appeared in Hazlitt, Per Contra, Le Monde Diplomatique, FT and the Caine Prize for African Writing anthology 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He writes weekly political satire for the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust on Sunday (and any other publication that PAYS him). Except you are The New Yorker, he considers it violence of unimaginable proportions to ask him to write for free. He has never won anything. This record was almost disrupted by the Caine Prize when they accidentally allowed his story on the shortlist in 2013 and again in 2015. Of course, both times, he did not win. He has been shortlisted and longlisted for a few other prizes, but he is content with his position as a serial finalist. It is kind of like being a best man at a wedding - you get to attend the ceremony but you can get drunk, sneak off and hook up without anyone noticing because after all, you are not the groom. In 2008, after being lied to by friends and admirers about the quality of his work, he hastily self-published an embarrassing collection of short stories which has thankfully gone out of print. He hopes to never repeat that foolish mistake.

His novel Born On a Tuesday was published in Nigeria (in 2015), the UK and the US (in 2016) and will be available in German in 2017. Now that he is in between books, nobody seems to want to publish his collection of short stories. This puzzles him. He really loves those stories. His agent also swears that if he publishes his Nigeria satire collection, it will interfer with his chances of being established globally as a serious novelist. He really doesn't care.

Elnathan is touchy about his skin and man boobs and isn't bold enough to grow hair (mostly because he is balding). One day he wants to be able to afford to buy a new, white Golf with shiny rims and a plate number that reads: WRITER. One of his new goals is getting to a weight below his current 100+kg and losing his fast growing beer belly. ...more

19 posts
Elnathan John's Blog

Elnathan John isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

I LIKE YOUR RESERVES IN PARTICULA

Dearest Buhari,
I am swooning. One of your propaganda secretaries just sent a message telling me about your massive foreign reserves hitting new billions. At first I was suspicious to be honest, thinking it was a metaphor for something else. But that was just my jealousy speaking. I am really impressed. The propaganda guy said you had surpassed South Africa in foreign reserves. It feels me with so Read more of this blog post »

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Published on May 13, 2018 02:04

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Elnathan John’s books

Average rating: 4.02 · 2,531 ratings · 469 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Born on a Tuesday 4.06 avg rating — 1,611 ratings — published 2015 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Becoming Nigerian: A Guide 3.96 avg rating — 635 ratings — published 2019 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New York, My Village by Uwem Akpan, Elnathan John (reader) 3.36 avg rating — 744 ratings — published 2021 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On Ajayi Crowther Street by Elnathan John, Alaba Onajin (Illustrator) 3.94 avg rating — 246 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Formation: The Making of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation by Fola Fagbule, Feyi Fawehinmi, Elnathan John (Reading) 4.10 avg rating — 77 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lusaka Punk and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2015 by Segun Afolabi, Elnathan John, F.T. Kola 3.66 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (Editor), H.J. Golakai (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Elnathan John (Contributor) 3.94 avg rating — 33 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Keepers of Secrets: Safe House Short Story Singles by Elnathan John, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (Editor) 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Being and Belonging: Safe House Short Story Singles Bundle by Elnathan John, Bongani Kona, Msingi Sasis really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hassan and Hassana Share Everything did not like it 1.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Elnathan John (?)

“Something that has no roots and springs up with leaves and branches everywhere is bound to crash from the weight”
― Elnathan John, Born on a Tuesday

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“Women can be very annoying. Sometimes they are very nice and they make you stay up all night thinking about them, unable to breathe because you feel your heart wanting to jump out of your chest. Other times they act as if the world is theirs to take, as if men were made to fulfil their every need.”
― Elnathan John, Born on a Tuesday

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“The Nigerian God loves elections and politics. When you have bribed people to get party nominations, used thugs to steal and stuff ballot boxes, intimated people into either sitting at home or voting for you, eventually, (through God’s grace), win the elections, you must begin by declaring that your success is the will of the almighty and living God and that the other candidate should accept this as the will of God”
― Elnathan John, Becoming Nigerian: A Guide

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