Titled, Afamefuna, which means in Igbo, “May my name not be lost” the book is a cultural compendium of about 5000 Igbo names and their meanings. It is a project meant—as the name implies—to preserve the various names among the Igbo people, some of the deeply philosophical in their meanings.

Naturally when Chinua told me about the book, my interest was piqued and instinctively, I knew the lacuna this work of art was going to fill in the cultural sphere. It is an attempt at retaining culture. Among the Igbo, a wise man never asks, “What is in a name?” In the Igbo culture, name has a deep significance and from the Pre-colonial Igbo society, names have had depth and a strong presence of spirituality.