Walking on Cowrie Shells focuses on the lives of hyphenated-Americans with a multi-cultural heritage in the United States and Africa. The book spans genres – literary realism, horror, mystery, YA, science fiction – and features complex, fully-embodied characters: tongue-tied linguistic anthropologists, comic book enthusiasts and even water goddesses. The author hopes her stories entertain readers while also offering them a counterpoint to prevalent “heart of darkness” writing that too often depicts a singular “African” experience plagued by locusts, hunger, and tribal in-fighting. 

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‘Nkweti’s lyrical linguistic choices aptly charm the tongue and help to deliver a performance, which is fitting for this collection of stories, because they all fizzle across genre and cultural boundaries.’

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‘I loved Kweti’s nuanced insights.’

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‘The world needs more books like this which hold a sharp yet empathetic torch to the Black experience.’

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What to read when 2021 is just around the corner
‘In her powerful, genre-bending debut story collection, Nana Nkweti mixes deft realism with clever inversions of genre.’
https://therumpus.net/2020/12/what-to-read-when-2021-is-just-around-the-corner/

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Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2021 Book Preview
‘This dazzler of a debut shines a spotlight on lives that bridge the divide between the cultures of Cameroon and America.’
https://themillions.com/2021/01/most-anticipated-the-great-first-half-2021-book-preview.html

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Starred review
‘Boisterous and high-spirited debut stories by a talented new writer.’
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nana-nkweti/walking-on-cowrie-shells/

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‘This is a groundbreaking and vital work.’
Starred Review
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781644450543

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May/June 2021 issue

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Nana Nkweti’s Walking on Cowrie Shells Offers Diverse and Complex Story-worlds
‘Nkweti’s writing is a gem. Funny and loaded with turns of phrases, it incites chuckles and some laughs but also tears and wonder.’
https://brittlepaper.com/2021/05/nana-nkwetis-walking-on-cowrie-shells-offers-diverse-and-complex-story-worlds/

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Exerpt: The Statistician’s Wife
https://www.afreada.com/stories/the-statisticians-wife

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10 Debut Books to Read This June
Everything Nkweti does feels completely refreshing as she twists and turns the expectations of what a short story can be.
https://debutiful.net/2021/06/01/10-debut-books-to-read-this-june/

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Starred Review: Walking on Cowrie Shells
‘a cluster of 10 dazzling stories that are as diverse as they are vibrant.’
https://bookpage.com/reviews/26294-nana-nkweti-walking-cowrie-shells-fiction#.YJPdiy9Q0UG

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10 Short Story Collections to Read This Summer: For Short Trips and Taking Sips
‘acrobatic and delightful prose’
https://lithub.com/10-short-story-collections-to-read-this-summer/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hub%20Daily:%20June%203%2C%202021&utm_term=lithub_master_list

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20 Best New Books of June 2021
https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g36518074/best-new-books-june-2021/?utm_campaign=socialflowTWOPR&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=twitter

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These Stories Dance Deftly Between America And Cameroon
‘WALKING ON COWRIE SHELLS is a terrific read, each story different and varied from the one before. Nkweti has proven herself a bright new star.’
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/07/1003380153/these-stories-dance-deftly-between-america-and-cameroon

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Briefly Noted
‘Lively and fast-paced, funny and tragic, these stories refuse a singular African experience in favor of a vivid plurality.’
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/14/phase-six-walking-on-cowrie-shells-the-house-of-fragile-things-and-there-plant-eyes

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Review: Nana Nkweti’s Tales of Cameroonians at Home and in America

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Review: Walking on Cowrie Shells by Nana Nkweti

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‘What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in June’

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‘With all these familiar horrors, who in the hell was going to believe in zombies?’—An excerpt from Nana Nkweti’s debut Walking on Cowrie Shells