DEBUT NOVEL · FROM THE WATERSIDE
Stories that carry the weight of memory.
Comfort Briggs-Anigboh writes from Buguma and the waters of Kalabari land, fiction rooted in the Nigerian Civil War, written to remember and to reclaim.
Comfort Briggs-Anigboh writes from Buguma and the waters of Kalabari land, fiction rooted in the Nigerian Civil War, written to remember and to reclaim.
A "Pitakwa" girl shaped by the waters of Kalabari land and the energy of Port Harcourt, writing, at last, the story she long postponed.
Comfort Abiye Briggs-Anigboh was born in Buguma, in the lush, river-laced heart of Nigeria's Niger Delta. Raised between the waters of Kalabari land and the vibrant city of Port Harcourt, she came of age during the Biafra War, a time that split her childhood in two, and later shaped the stories she tells.
Educated in Nigeria and the United States, she spent decades as a journalist, scholar, and teacher before turning, at last, to fiction, a lifelong calling she had long postponed. Her writing is rooted in memory, sharpened by politics, and lit by the lyricism of everyday life.
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Told through the eyes of Boma, a young girl growing up in the riverine town of Buguma during the Nigerian Civil War, this novel reveals how war slowly upends everyday life, bringing fear, hunger, loss, and resilience to a child whose world was once defined by the rhythms of the waterside. Personal memory meets imagination in a deeply cultural telling of a chapter of Nigerian history rarely seen from this angle.
The past held in rivers, songs, and a child's watchful eye.
The Nigerian Civil War, told from a riverine town rarely centered in the record.
Fear and hunger sit beside tenderness, community, and everyday grace.
A girl's world upended, and rebuilt, one waterside season at a time.
Comfort Abiye Briggs-Anigboh was born in Buguma, in the lush, river-laced heart of Nigeria's Niger Delta.
Raised between the waters of Kalabari land and the vibrant, bustling city of Port Harcourt, she proudly claims her place as a true "Pitakwa" girl, shaped by the rhythm, resilience, and energy of the Garden City. She came of age during the Biafra War, a time that split her childhood in two and later shaped the stories she tells. This, her debut novel, is a return to that haunted ground, told through the eyes of a young girl not unlike the one she once was.
Educated in Nigeria and the United States, Briggs-Anigboh spent decades as a journalist, scholar, and teacher before turning, at last, to fiction, a lifelong calling she had long postponed. Her writing is rooted in memory, sharpened by politics, and lit by the lyricism of everyday life. She writes to remember. She writes to reclaim. She writes, finally, for herself.
Comfort joins Beat FM Lagos to discuss Boma's story, her own journey to writing, and how the Kalabari culture and memory of Buguma shaped a novel that reveals the Nigerian Civil War through a child's eyes.
Scenes from the From the Waterside book launch, readings, and performances.
Leave any question pertaining to her book. This circle is public, everyone visiting the site can read what's shared here.