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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Fred Harter

‘I was told books don’t sell here. I knew that wasn’t true’: the English teacher shaking up Nigeria’s publishing scene

Portrait of Othuke Ominiabohs wearing a sweatshirt and resting his head on one hand
Othuke Ominiabohs, author and founder of Masobe Books, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing independent publishers. Photograph: Courtesy of Othuke Ominiabohs

In a hospital bed fearing his death was imminent, English teacher Othuke Ominiabohs thought ruefully of his four unpublished novels. “My biggest regret was I was going to die, and no one would see my work,” says Ominiabohs. “When I got better, I decided to self-publish and put those books out there for the rest of the world to read.”

His kidney failure was later cured by a transplant, and his literary ambitions led him to found Masobe Books, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing independent publishers.

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