She was born in Oguta in eastern Nigeria, a British colony. Her education led to the University of Ibadan where she received a B.A in 1957. Her studies continued in Britain where she earned a Degree in Education the following year from the University of Edinburgh.
In 1966 she became the first African female to be published internationally in the English language.
"When I do write about women in Nigeria, in Africa, I try to paint a positive picture about women because there are many women who are very, very positive in their thinking, who are very, very independent, and very, very industrious."
Ogbuefi Flora Nwapa
Besides writing books, she established Tana Press, which published adult fiction. It was the first indigenous publishing house owned by an African woman in Africa. Between 1979 and 1981 she produced eight volumes of adult fiction. Nwapa set up also another publishing company, Flora Nwapa and Co., which specialised in children's fiction. In these books she combined Nigerian elements with general moral and ethical teachings.
As a business woman, she also encouraged with her own example to break the traditional female roles of wife/mother and strived for equality in society.
As a novelist she made her debut with Efuru (1966) based on an old folktale of a woman chosen by gods, but Nwapa challenged the traditional portrayal of women. She sent the manuscript she had begun writing in 1962 to Chinua Achebe in Lagos. After some editorial suggestions, he sent it to Heineman Books for publication.
The story was set in a rural community where Efuru, the heroine, is a strong and beautiful woman.
She loses her child and has two unhappy marriages, but struggless against all obstacles to become a successful businesswoman. At the end she seeks out the lake goddess Uhamiri, who gives her worshippers wealth and beauty but few children.
Her second novel, Idu (1970) was also a story about a woman whose life is bound up with that of her husband. When he dies, she chooses to seek him out in the land of dead rather than live without him or accept marriage to anyone else.
Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria. She left a husband and three children. At the time of her death she had completed a manuscript of THE LAKE GODDESS, her final novel. It focused on the lake goddess Mammy Water, the eternal spring and mythical inspirer of Nwapa's fiction. Legends tell that the fairy godmother has her adobe on the bottom of Oguta Lake, near the author's birthplace.
Of those at her funeral, one paid her tribute in the following words:
"Flora is gone and we all have to say adieu. But she left behind an indelible mark. No one will ever write about Nigerian literature in English without mentioning her. She will always be the departure point for female writing in Africa. And African publishing will forever owe her a debt. But above all, her contribution to the development of women in Nigeria, nay in Africa, and throughout the world is what she will be best remembered for." - Ken Saro-Wiwa
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As a business woman, she also encouraged with her own example to break the traditional female roles of wife/mother and strived for equality in society.
As a novelist she made her debut with Efuru (1966) based on an old folktale of a woman chosen by gods, but Nwapa challenged the traditional portrayal of women. She sent the manuscript she had begun writing in 1962 to Chinua Achebe in Lagos. After some editorial suggestions, he sent it to Heineman Books for publication.
The story was set in a rural community where Efuru, the heroine, is a strong and beautiful woman.
She loses her child and has two unhappy marriages, but struggless against all obstacles to become a successful businesswoman. At the end she seeks out the lake goddess Uhamiri, who gives her worshippers wealth and beauty but few children.
Her second novel, Idu (1970) was also a story about a woman whose life is bound up with that of her husband. When he dies, she chooses to seek him out in the land of dead rather than live without him or accept marriage to anyone else.
Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria. She left a husband and three children. At the time of her death she had completed a manuscript of THE LAKE GODDESS, her final novel. It focused on the lake goddess Mammy Water, the eternal spring and mythical inspirer of Nwapa's fiction. Legends tell that the fairy godmother has her adobe on the bottom of Oguta Lake, near the author's birthplace.
Of those at her funeral, one paid her tribute in the following words:
"Flora is gone and we all have to say adieu. But she left behind an indelible mark. No one will ever write about Nigerian literature in English without mentioning her. She will always be the departure point for female writing in Africa. And African publishing will forever owe her a debt. But above all, her contribution to the development of women in Nigeria, nay in Africa, and throughout the world is what she will be best remembered for." - Ken Saro-Wiwa
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