‘Just like the film American Fiction, my books have to speak to my ‘African heritage’ to get noticed’

Writer Chioma Okereke was taught by the novelist whose book inspired the Oscar-nominated film ‘American Fiction’. Like the movie’s frustrated protagonist, her own experiences are the same: when you are Black and African, there is often only one kind of story publishers seem to want from you...

Novel idea: Jeffrey Wright stars as writer Monk who sets out to expose the industry’s biases (AP)

With the success of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure coming to the big screen in the form of the five-times Oscar-nominated movie American Fiction, the question of what an authentic Black experience is has never been more in the spotlight.

My upcoming novel Water Baby is a coming-of-age tale portraying the societal pressures on a young woman trying to escape the confines of her community. It’s set in Nigeria – where I was born – but it could have easily been Hertfordshire and London where I grew up, or rural France where I’m living now.

What makes me an African author isn’t my location, but my essence – my DNA, my cultural experiences, how I perceive the world. But it often feels as though African authors like me are compelled to be cultural historians or commentators in order to be published in the traditional way.