Waiting for Maria

＂Waiting for Maria＂ delves into the harrowing experiences of female inmates entangled in the sluggish justice system of Nigeria. The book follows several female inmates and their stories as they vie for the one amnesty slot granted by the government on Nigeria’s National Day. The arrival of an executioner intensifies the urgency, casting a shadow of mortality over the inmates. Yet, in the face of adversity, the spirit of human compassion emerges, offering a sliver of redemption. This book, a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize offers a profound exploration of the feminine condition, the systemic challenges faced by women across various societal roles, underscored by themes of justice, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of hope.

Commonwealth Prize shortlisted author and former diplomat, Ifeoma Chinwuba, was a child refugee during the Biafran Civil War. After the war, Chinwuba acquired an education and was recruited into the Nigerian Foreign Service. Ifeoma Chinwuba has written several critically acclaimed novels and was the 2022 Writer-in Residence at the Department of English and Film Studies of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. She currently lives in Ottawa, Canada, where she’s hard at work on her next novel.