“These short stories came to me while observing others and sometimes experiencing certain situations. We must peel back the layers, go beyond the surface to understand others and their personal motives.  For those that have been misunderstood, those that do not have a voice, those that have been dealt a bad hand, Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon is also for you.”

I wrote the draft of  Searching for Miss Anderson, one of the short stories in the collection  while  in a hospital room watching over my son in January 2015.  Desperation drove me to write. I needed an outlet for the overwhelming feeling of helplessness.  I haven’t felt like that in a long time. Last time I remember was as a poor, struggling international student living in Washington DC attending Howard University in the late 90’s.  Waiting by the bus stop on Georgia Avenue  in the cold of winter, my nose pressed into the folds of a black  puffy winter  jacket, I would watch the mentally challenged homeless man in in his tattered winter coat and equally tattered and dirty wool cap pushing his cart of worldly possessions down Georgia Avenue.  Rumor had it then that he had been an international  student  in a PhD program before he went around the bend and never returned.  It’s no wonder the story is about an international student struggling with mental illness.

Visiting my alma mater in 2012

The Rake and the WallFlower is about a beautiful soul who continues to inspire me despite what the world considers to be a flaw.  Losing My Religion draws from my experiences growing up  in religious establishments and how if we as a people can be led like sheep to the slaughter if we are not careful.  The Hunchback was inspired by the community of Makoko in Lagos and what they endured during the 72-hour vacate notice in 2012 when one of the inhabitants was killed. The community is still undergoing many challenges and my heart has been with them since I visited in 2014.   Like all the other stories in the Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon Collection, it  is contemporary suspense fiction .  Each story draws from my witnessing what others have gone through or my own experiences.  We must peel back the layers, go beyond the surface to understand others and their personal motives.  For those that have been misunderstood, those that do not have a voice, those that have been dealt a bad hand, Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon is also for you.

To my family who understands that writing is my calling and that I must, thank you.

To Quramo Publishing, and staff  thank you. To   Anwuli Ojogwu, you challenge me to be a better writer. For the faith you have in me, and your relentlessness in pushing me to dig deeper, I remain grateful.

To  EC Osondu, Sefi Atta, Yejide Kilanko, and Zukiswa Wanner, thank you for taking the time to read the short stories and for your lovely reviews.

“Credible stories of the daily perils that Nigerians fall prey to, at home and overseas.”- Sefi Atta, winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, author of A Bit of Difference, Swallow, Everything Good Will Come

“These are stories worth telling from a writer worth reading” – EC Osondu winner, The Caine Prize for Africa.

“Campbell-Fatoki’s characters share their stories of loss, love and reclaimed identity in a way that leaves you wanting for more.” – Yejide Kilanko, author of Daughters Who Walk This Path

 “In Thread of Gold Beads, Nike Campbell-Fatoki showed her brilliance as a novelist. The short story collection Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon goes a step further and elevates her as more than a one-book wonder but a masterful storyteller. Each of the stories is eloquently crafted without the condescension to readers that comes with a ribbon-wrapped ending. By turns amusing, sad and painful, each of the stories in this collection moved me to some deep emotion, and they will do the same for you too whether reading about religion, mental illness, gender roles or open marriages. Another wonderful and unapologetic addition to the growing genre of literature by writers from Africa.” – Zukiswa Wanner, author of The Madams, Men of the South, London, Cape Town, Joburg, maid in SA: 30 ways to Leave Your Madam, and Refilwe

Me, this morning

Bury me Come Sunday Afternoon is out today July 6, 2016!  Published by  Quramo Publishing available at book stores in Nigeria and Africa and also available via kindle worldwide.  I look forward to your comments and reviews. Happy reading!