Onyi Nwabineli Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Onyi Nwabineli is a literary fiction author that was born in Benin Nigeria but spent much of her childhood and young adulthood in Newcastle, the Isle of Man, and Glasgow.

She went to college from where she graduated with a degree in Creative Writing and English. She is also the co-founder of “Surviving Out Loud,” a nonprofit which offers temporary relocation, therapy, and legal assistance to victims of sexual assault.
Given that she is of Nigerian heritage, she has said that she has always had a passion for preserving the Igbo language. Nwabineli also styles herself as a mentor and inspiration to young Black girls across the world.

She made her name with the publishing of “Someday, Maybe” which she published in 2022. The work is a reflection of the struggles that women usually have to deal with following a tragic incident.

Onyi currently makes her home in London where she writes her works. Onyi loves to engage with her readers through the newsletter on her website where she usually gives updates on her upcoming works.

As for how she came to start writing, Onyi Nwabineli has said that she has been telling stories since she could talk. Her house was her stage during her childhood and she used to tell stories to just about anyone that cared including her toys.
When she went to university, she studied creative writing and English but ultimately worked in tech even though she never stopped writing.

Onyi has said that she still has three manuscripts on her computer that will never see the light of day. She has also participated in many writing challenges and written blogs.

However, her debut novel is a culmination of publishers that found her through an open call, excellent timing, and an amazing agent that believed in her story and her.

She came to pen her debut when a dear friend asked her to write something about grief after she unexpectedly lost her husband.

She initially refused and balked at the idea but her friend would not let it rest and ultimately she penned a few pages that she presented to her friend.

It was from that that she was bullied into writing the full manuscript that would become “Someday, Maybe.”

In addition to her literary fiction work, she is also the founder of the United Kingdom’s premier writing retreat in Black Pens.

It holds the honor of being the first and only black retreat for black women. The idea for the retreat came to her when she got too many responses after tweeting that there was a need for such a space.

Many people that responded to her tweet began to gently coax her into creating the space herself. She created it as a place where Black women could strengthen intra-communal bonds through writing.

Through Black Pens, authors can share their experiences in the diaspora, and in some small ways, it also helps authors deal with the inequity in the publishing industry.

The retreat has been responsible for producing some vibrant stories and nurturing some great talents, even though Nwabineli still believes there is a lot of underrepresentation that she strives to address.
Nwabineli herself has used the organization to explore personal journeys in aspects such as career, faith, and sexual assault and also got to learn from industry experts.

In fact, Onyi believes that she would not be the author she is today without the expert advice she has received which is why she will never stop giving back.

While she has achieved a lot of success writing literary fiction, she is not very traditional in her approach to writing.

One quirk or you could say very interesting thing about Onyi Nwabineli is that she only writes short stories without a very detailed character plan or plot.

She usually has trouble with anything longer than 5,000 words as he brain will usually begin asking what she is doing at that point.

Writing deep into the night, she will usually write character outlines, chapter outlines, and synopsis and often keeps a OneNote book that she has filled with snippets of ideas that she gets while going through her day.
She has also been known to sometimes delete entire scenes and even chapters when something goes wrong with her story.

After setting up the Black Pens retreat for Black Women authors in 2022, she went back to writing. In addition to her retreat, she still runs a side business and works a full-time day job.
Nonetheless, she still finds time to be with family and has said that sometimes it is family that provides her with the experiences and inspiration for many of her literary works.

“Someday, Maybe” by Onyi Nwabineli is a work that tells the story of the suicide of Eve’s husband and the aftermath.

Eve had met her husband Quentin while they were in college. They had very different backgrounds a he is from a wealthy and very white British family while she is of Nigerian heritage but living in Britain.

Despite their differences, they soon form a very strong bond. Meanwhile, Eve is struggling to reconcile with her husband’s suicide and soon spirals into depression.

She manifests her grief in many different ways but the constant is she just can’t stop thinking of anyone or anything outside Quentin. She has been blaming herself for not seeing that he was depressed which had resulted in his suicide.
She is fortunate that her family and her best friend are there for her but she often pushes them away as she withdraws from life.

It also seems that her classist and/or racist mother-in-law is on her case. She has recently been making some baseless allegations that may just make her life harder than it is at the moment.

The work is a rendering of Eve’s sadness, insight, confusion, empathy, anger, and despair. We also get glimpses into the very complicated relationship between Eve and Quentin including their meeting, and the years they spent together.