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Welcome to Reading Around the Globe, a series here on Reader Voracious Blog geared at fostering a culture of understanding in the bookish community about access to books in various countries around the world. Each post in the series highlights a full interview with one international reader. You can read more about this series here on the series master post.
An Interview with Chinelo
- What is your name? Chinelo
- Blog URL? https://bookedunicorn.com/
- Twitter handle? @Booked_Unicorn
- Where do you live? Nigeria
- Do you find that there is a culture of reading where you live? If not, tell us a bit how you came to be one! Yes there is and it’s growing rapidly.
- What kinds of books do you enjoy reading? Fantasy, YA, NA, Contemporary, Sci-Fi, Afro-Futurism
- Have you always been a reader? Yes
- Do you also read books published in your native language/published locally to you? If so, tell us a bit about what kinds of books are published in your country! English is the primary language we speak, but sadly I cannot read any books in my Native tongue they are mainly published for schools as a tool for learning the language.
- Are there libraries where you live? If so, what kinds of books can you find there? Are you able to get the books that you want? There is a British council here but I am yet to explore it fully the last time I went there they had a wide range of children’s books.
- How prevalent are English published books where you live in bookstores? (For example, books printed by HarperCollins.) They are a lot of English published books here however..bookstores tend to have only bestsellers
- Do you use NetGalley or Edelweiss to request electronic galleys for review? If so, what kind of success rate would you estimate for you personally? Yes i use both, as do success rate I would say 60%.
- Do you experience hurdles or barriers to access for the kinds of books that you read? Please explain if so. Mainly the shipping fees to be paid are expensive and there aren’t a lot of traders that have them.
- If you could make one change to the publishing landscape, what would you do? Consider publishing houses in African countries too.
- Help other international bloggers out… What resources do you use to obtain the books that you want to read? Amazon and AbeBooks
- Do you have any other experiences as a reader around the world that you would like to share? We have Book festivals in Lagos and Abuja and they are fun I am happy that they portray works from African writers. I encourage people to check them out too.
Please note that all experiences reflected in the interviews are personal and are not meant to generalize what reading access is like in each country. If you are interested in participating please DM me on Twitter.
Read More Reading Around the Globe Interviews
Argentina
Consu @ papereyedgirl
Australia
Ellyn @ allonsythornraxxbooks
Greyson @ Use Your Words
Bangladesh
Maria @ mariahossainblog
Belgium
Inge @ Of Wonderland
Wesley @ Outsiders and Misfits
Canada
Catherine @ This One is for the Books (Toronto)
Kristina @ Books and Dachsunds (New-Brunswick)
Shania @ Book Princess Reviews (Quebec)
Chile
Maria @ bookish4life
Denmark
Catherine @ Bees and Books
Silje @ inkedbybooks
England
Clo @ Cuppa Clo
Olly @ Criminolly
France
Emma @ Mengueis De Livres
Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books
Germany
Silvia @ Silvia Reads Books
Hungary
Veronika @ Reading is Dreaming with Open Eyes
Indonesia
Carolina @ fictionologyst
Petrik @ Novel Notions
India
Himani @ Books&Sstuff
Nandini @ Unputdownable Books
Prags @ The Inked In Book Blog
Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat
Suraj @ Books N Myself
Italy
Angela @ Books of a Shy Girl
Camilla @ Reader Attic
Kuwait
Devyn Jase @ devynjase.com
Mexico
Jossie @ thebookdragoncorner
Mozambique
A Restless Traveler
The Netherlands
Annemieke @ A Dance With Books
Esther @ Bite into Books
Luci @ Lunar Luci Books
Marco @ Barely a Blogger
Michelle @ Michelle Likes Things
Nigeria
Chinelo @ Booked_Unicorn
Norway
Julie @ StrixAlucoBooks
Palestine
Hamad @ thebookprescription
Pakistan
Nargis @ Literary Nerd’s Musings
Philippines
Aimee @ Aimee Always
Alexia @ Bookworm Daydreamer
Gel @ Whimsy Wanders
Justine @ bookishwisps
Kate @ Your Tita Kate
Rain @ Bookdragoninsm
Shealea @ Shut Up, Shealea
Portugal
Marta @ The Book Mermaid
Rita @ Bookish Rita
Romania
Dianthaa @ Dianthaa Dabbles
Puerto Rico
Yani @ Read & Create
Rwanda
Annie @ Sunflower Bookshelf
Singapore
Taasia @ libraepaintspages
Slovenia
Para @ Other Worlds Reviews
South Africa
DB @ DB’s Guide to the Galaxy
Switzerland
Elisa @ bookishexpat
United Arab Emirates
Nicka @ Wander with Nicka
Zimbabwe
Sakhile @ Sakhile Whispers
Please note that all experiences reflected in the interviews are personal and are not meant to generalize what reading access is like in each country. If you are interested in participating please DM me on Twitter or send me a message on Discord.
💖 If you like the work that I do here at Reader Voracious, consider fueling my pumpkin spice latte and black tie addiction by buying me a ko-fi! ☕
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Fascinating as always, and it’s wonderful to meet you, Chinelo! Thanks for informing us what on what being a reader is like in Nigeria. I love this series so much!
HI Steph , Nice to meet you too.
Thank you so much for reading my interview with Chinelo!
Haha, short and to the point 😁 I never knew Nigerians spoke mainly English! It’s great to see that reading in Nigeria is better than some of the other countries because it’s quite bumming to hear so many countries worldwide not having good access. There’s a little hope!
Also, I’m glad to meet someone else who has a good approval rate on Edelweiss, too. So many people put EW down and half of them have never even tried it out!
Haha.. i was quite worried that my answers were too short,i felt that long answers would bore people. Edelweiss scared me at first but i really wanted to read Joan He’s book and so i went for it. Thanks for reading.
Edelweiss is daunting as heck, so I don’t blame you hahahaa.
I also didn’t know about English being so prevalent in Nigeria, so that was cool to learn! My approval rating works out to the same as it is on NetGalley, between 70 and 80%, but again I am in the US so I don’t think I count hehe. EW is lovely though and I have heard from so many international readers that they get better luck there!
Hahaha, it’s still good to know info from all sides! I’m genuinely glad to hear that international readers are being well treated on EW! Finally, people are not putting EW down. Especially when they’ve never even given it an honest try! Looks like these 2 are the main platforms for e-ARCs. Although, I saw on twitter that people were saying that NG is costlier than EW. I was surprised! I see much more indie books on NG, so, how come? Could it be that they market themselves better, that they’re more well-known in the writing community?
Hi Chinelo! So cool to read about the bookscene in Nigeria. It sucks that shipping costs are so high 🙁 I don’t think I’ve read many books from African authors, are there any young adult, or sci-fi/fantasy/contemporary that you’d recommend?
Hi Michelle…Boy oh boy do i have a lot to recommend to you. First of my favorite author Nnedi okorafor, i recommend (every single thing she has written) Home and who fears death. Half a yellow son by Chimamanda Adichie and My sister the serial killer by oyinkan Braithwaite. I hope you enjoy
Oh I think I heard about My sister the serial killer! I’ll definitely be checking all of these out. Thank you so much!
Shipping costs are seriously so incredibly prohibitive and it is such a bummer.
I find it amazing how the reading culture can be seen as declining in Western cultures where we take reading for granted. Yet in a country many people would consider as third world or developing reading is on the rise. What a great interview. Thank you!
I’m also happy that its rising, its one of he things i looked forward to when i came back home. Thanks for reading
You totally bring up an interesting point, and I definitely agree with you. I for one refuse to take reading for granted and I hope to be able to move the needle a bit for international readers. Thanks for stopping by!
Great to read about your reading experiences in Nigeria! A shame that they don’t have more than the best sellers and that charging is probably extortionate for shipping. I do hope that someone will see the growing trend of reading and put some publishing houses your way <3 thank you for sharing with us!
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing.
How neat! Nice to meet you Chinelo!! ❤️ I have a friend moving to Africa for a year and he is super excited! How disappointed he will be that everyone speaks English! Hahaha. Shipping is such a problem. Book Depository is my go to for books because of the free shipping and the discounted cover prices sometimes, but you have to wait a month or two for the brand new books. >.< Happy reading!