Born on a Tuesday (20 page)

Acknowledgments

Basiru, the almajiri from Sokoto I met in Zaria, whose story made me create Dantala, who will probably never read this book; Miriam Kotzin at Per Contra, who first gave ‘Bayan Layi' life; The Caine Prize for African Writing, whose shortlisting of Bayan Layi encouraged me to take the story further; Azan John, who would have been proud of this book, as he was of everything I ever wrote, who lives forever in me; Chika Unigwe, my sister, friend and mentor who has her hand in every story of mine; Jeremy Weate who first forced the manuscript out of my hands and believed in it, before I did; Bibi Bakare-Yusuf who gave this child of mine a home and keeps being my biggest supporter; Mirella Mahlstein, my fsbdp, who patiently stood with me until I finished, who endured my moments of frustration and irritation, who was my anchor on those down days; Toby Mundy, my diligent agent, who makes his very difficult job look so easy; Steffi Hirsbrunner, my dear friend and a great promoter of my work, who makes sure I always have a home and family in Berlin; Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, my braza, my friend, my travelling companion, my Arabic ‘consultant,' the sober one; The Civitella Ranieri Fellowship where I put finishing touches to this book, for the gifts of time and space; Steve Devitt, my grumpy old friend, who read my work and forced me on his students, who believed in me, whose weekly emails give me life; the thorough Kate Haines who saw things I could not see; the diligent Allison Malecha at Grove Atlantic who had to deal with my constant emails; Quiterie de Roquefeuil with whom I had many fights over this story, who sometimes knew and cared about the characters more than I did; Carmen McCain!

Eugenia Abu, for the amazing support. Always.

Emma Shercliff, Umma Aliyu, Hadiza Ibrahim Halid, Jude Dibia, Femke van Zeijl, The Ebedi Residency, Faith Adiele, Nkem Ivara, Anthony Ivara, Ngozi Oti, Zakari Usman Mijinyawa, Jazzmine Breary, Usho Smith Adawa, Friday John Aba, ANA Kaduna, Emman Shehu, Cassava Republic.

Dad, mum, Jummai, David,

Thank you.