Iheoma Nwachukwu, JAPA AND OTHER STORIES
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Zibby chats with poet, essayist, fiction writer, and assistant professor of English, Iheoma Nwachukwu, about his brilliant, ravishing, ruthless short story collection, JAPA AND OTHER STORIES, a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection! Iheoma explains the meaning of “japa,” a Yoruba word central to the book, as it follows young Nigerian immigrants yearning for a new life in strange new territories and struggling to anchor themselves in their new homes, much like Iheoma’s experience in the United States. He reflects on his extraordinary journey, from his early life in Nigeria (studying biochemistry with dreams of becoming a doctor), to discovering his true passion for writing and moving to the US to pursue an MFA.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens. |
| 0:45.1 | Ihioma Nuwachu Kuo is the author of Japa and other stories. |
| 0:51.7 | Ihioma grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. After working as a Chinese herbal medicine |
| 0:57.4 | salesman for a few years while writing, he won a fellowship to come to the U.S. for graduate school. |
| 1:02.7 | His writing has appeared in Italy's Internacional, Electric Literature, the Southern Review, |
| 1:07.8 | the Iowa Review, and other venues. His fiction has earned a Pushgar Prize, |
| 1:13.1 | special mention, and a Best American Short Story is notable. Ihoema is working on a novel and a short |
| 1:18.5 | story collection. He is an assistant professor at Eastern University. Welcome, Ihioma. I'm delighted |
| 1:24.1 | to have you on Totally Book to talk about Joppa and other stories. |
| 1:28.0 | Did I pronounce that right? Japa? |
| 1:29.5 | Yes, Japa, yeah. |
| 1:30.7 | Japa. |
| 1:30.8 | Yeah, Japa. |
| 1:32.7 | Tell me, what did I do wrong? |
| 1:35.0 | So it's the P word in your Raba language, where it's from the word Japa. |
| 1:41.5 | It's pronounced Japua, not pa, but it's like a pa sound, like a kw, |
| 1:48.0 | almost, you know, yeah, but it's okay. Sorry, you know. That's fine. Well, congratulations, |
| 1:55.7 | whatever it's called, however it's pronounced. I can read it, and that's the most important thing. |
... |
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