Uwen Akpan's "Say You're One of Them"

Each opening sentence of Uwem Akpan's short stories in his debut collection "Say You're One of Them" pull the reader into the story:

"Selling your child or nephew could be more difficult than selling other kids."

Or "Now that my eldest sister, Maisha, was 12, none of us knew how to relate to her anymore."

Each of these five short stories is told from the perspective of a child, and with the first sentence, Akpan demands your attention.

Read my essay on Akpan’s glorious collection with was selected as one of Oprah’s Book Reads

Read the article here