Flora Nwapa was Africa's first internationally published femalenovelist in the English language. She has been called the mother of modern African literature.
Flora (Nwanzuruahal) Nwapa was born in eastern Nigeria. Both of her parents, Christopher Ijeoma and Martha Nwapa, were teachers. She graduated from the University of Idaban in 1957. Nwapa continued her studies in England, earning a degree in education from the University of Edinburgh in 1958.
As a novelist Nwapa made her debut with Efuru, based on an old folktale of a woman chosen by gods that challenged the traditional portrayal of women. Nwapa also established Tana Press, which published adult fiction. It was the first indigenous publishing house owned by a black African woman in West Africa. Between 1979 and 1981 she produced eight volumes of adult fiction. Nwapa also set up Flora Nwapa and Company, a publishing company that specialized in children's fiction. These books combined Nigerian elements with general moral and ethical teachings. Flora Nwapa embodied and enouraged the example of breaking traditional female roles of wife/mother, by striving for equality in society. Nwapa did not call herself a feminist but a "womanist".
