We Need New Names  (English, Paperback, Bulawayo NoViolet)

We Need New Names is the extraordinary literary debut of expatriate Zimbabwean writer, NoViolet Bulawayo. It is a powerful story of a young girl’s journey out of Zimbabwe and to America.

Summary of the Book

We Need New Names is the coming-of-age story of a young girl named Darling, first as a 10-year-old in Zimbabwe, and later as a teenager in America. Darling is a little girl who has to explore a fragile and violent world all by herself. In Zimbabwe, she and her friends had the happiest times of their lives stealing guavas, playing games and wondering how to get the baby out of young Chipo’s belly. But this was before their lives changed completely – their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, the school closed, and their fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad. Now Darling has a chance to escape this drudgery. She dreams of escaping to other paradises like America, Dubai, and Europe. But even if Darling and her friends manage to escape, will these new places bring them everything they have always wished for?

About NoViolet Bulawayo

NoViolet Bulawayo is a Zimbabwean author and Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She was born and raised in Zimbabwe and later completed her higher education in the US, studying at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from Texas A&M University-Commerce and Southern Methodist University, respectively. We Need New Names was her debut novel which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, making her the first black African woman and the first Zimbabwean to be shortlisted for award.