The Last Gift of the Master Artists

by Ben Okri

Publisher:

Apollo

, 2022

'One of the most beautiful and profound novels I've read in ages' Washington Post
'A magical take on Africa before the arrival of the Atlantic slave ships' Independent
'Takes on the great riddles of existence' New York Times

By a riverbank in Africa, two lovers meet for the first time. They make a promise to meet again the next day, same time, same place, but only one of them shows up.

This sounds like the beginning of a love story, but it's more than that, for this breathtaking tale takes the reader into the heart of a vibrant world, a complex and intriguing civilisation of warriors and kings, philosophers and artists, parents and lovers. A world and culture which is about to end for, glimpsed on the horizon, seen but unsuspected, beautiful ships with white sails are waiting...

Features

First explicit account of the impact of slavery from a major British African writer.
Simultaneously published with US publisher as part of relaunch of Okri backlist in US.
Ben Okri has won many awards over the years; The Famished Road won the Booker Prize for Fiction and Astonishing the Gods was selected by the BBC as one of '100 Novels that Shaped Our World'.
MARKET: Yaa Gyasi; Elif Shafak; Bernadine Evaristo's Blonde Roots.

Praise for The Last Gift of the Master Artists

A magical take on Africa before the arrival of the Atlantic slave ships – a world of art and artists, lovers, storytellers and philosophers... The beauty of Okri's prose is [...] the overwhelming star of the show

Told with a bracing sincerity... and gnomic wisdom expressed in supple but sturdy prose

'[Okri's] writing takes on the great riddles of existence - freedom and consciousness, truth and illusion, suffering and transcendence - spinning them into shimmering, allegorical texts.'

PRAISE FOR BEN OKRI:

'Where fiction's master of enchantments stares down a real horror, and without blinking or flinching, produces a work of beauty, grace and uncommon power' Marlon James, on The Freedom Artist.

'Ben Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three – literature, culture and vision – are profoundly interwoven'

Product Details

• Title: The Last Gift of the Master Artists
• Author: Ben Okri
• Publisher: Apollo
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781838935887, 1838935886
• Resource ID: LLS:9781838935887
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-13T12:33:03Z

About Ben Okri

Ben Okri (b. 1959) has published ten novels, including The Famished Road and Starbook, as well as collections of poetry, short stories, and essays. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, he has received numerous international awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize, and the Chianti Ruffino Antico Fattore International Literary Prize. He is a vice president of PEN International’s English Centre and was presented with a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. Born in Nigeria, Okri now lives in London.