Masobe Books has acquired the forthcoming fiction collection “Central Hotel” by Nigerian writer and visual artist Victor Ehikhamenor, the publisher has announced.
The collection brings together stories centred on characters caught between desire and circumstance, including the pursuit of escape, love, power and a better future. Settings range from bars and brothels to village playgrounds and militarised childhoods, with the narratives examining themes of masculinity, migration, religion, sex, power and survival.
Ehikhamenor works across fiction, memoir, essay and poetry. Born in Udomi-Uwessan, Edo State, and shaped by time spent between continents, his writing centres on memory, politics, and everyday rural and contemporary life, often approached with an eye for irony and social observation.
His work has appeared in The New York Times, Guernica, AGNI and Wasafiri, among other international publications. He is the author of the poetry collection Sordid Rituals (2002) and the satirical essay collection Excuse Me! (2012).
He has held fellowships including the Apollo 40 Award, the Open Society Fellowship, a Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Norman Mailer Fellowship in Writing. He is also the founder of Angels and Muse and convener of the Black Muse Art Festival, both dedicated to multidisciplinary art and literature across Africa and its diaspora.
Masobe Books has not disclosed a publication date for “Central Hotel”.