In the Shadow of Biafra (2020) is a documentary film that explores how creative writers have grappled with the troubling history of the Nigeria-Biafra war. It features interviews with celebrated novelists, poets and critics, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Inua Ellams, Ernest Emenyonu, Akachi Ezeigbo, Chukwuemeka Ike, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Okey Ndibe, Obi Nwakanma, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi and Data Phido. Exploring how the war was remembered, the filmmakers investigate the role of writers during and after the war, and the inheritance of trauma in Nigeria today.

This event includes a screening of the film (73 minutes) and a discussion with the producer Dr Louisa Uchum Egbunike and director Dr Nathan Richards. The Q&A will be chaired by Amarachi Iheke.

This event is hosted by the Global Cultures Institute as part of Africa Week at King's, in collaboration with the War Crimes Research Group. Learn more about Africa Week 2024, organised by the African Leadership Centre at King's.

Note: This event is in person only.

About the speakers

Dr Louisa Uchum Egbunike

Dr Louisa Uchum Egbunike is an Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University, having previously taught at City, University of London and Manchester Metropolitan University. She completed her PhD on ‘The Igbo experience in the Igbo-Nigerian novel’ at SOAS, University of London, where she has also taught Contemporary African Literature. Her current research examines the literary and visual arts as repositories for memories of the Nigeria-Biafra war. Louisa is the curator of touring art exhibition Legacies of Biafra, and co-writer and producer of the documentary film In the Shadow of Biafra. She is one of the founders and conveners of the annual international Igbo Conference.

Dr Nathan Richards

Dr Nathan Richards, a Black Studies and Digital Humanities scholar at the University of Nottingham, is interested in how contemporary technologies shape historical memory and power dynamics within Black Diasporic communities. Richards analyses traditional (oral traditions, art) and contemporary (databases, social media) memory forms, revealing inequalities and fostering reparative engagement with the Black past. His cross-disciplinary approach, drawing from Afro-futurism and diverse scholarship, reimagines the Black Atlantic, not just uncovering forgotten corners, but recasting its future in shades of liberation and justice.

Amarachi Iheke

Amarachi Iheke is an educator, writer and researcher. Her work explores black cultural and aesthetic resistance practices, epistemic justice and coloniality. She is currently pursuing a PhD at King’s College London in the Department of War Studies, on resistance sonics in Azania and the production of communal reconciliations. Amarachi has also published on themes of genocide and inherited traumatic memory in the Biafran context, for The Funambulist and The Republic magazines.