Iowa Writers' Workshop alum Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo will read from her debut novel, The Tiny Things Are Heavier, and will be joined in conversation by local writer, translator, and professor, Bruna Dantas Lobato. Named a Best Book of 2025 by Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, The Tiny Things Are Heavier follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth. Bonded by their feelings of unbelonging and a vague sense of kinship, Sommy and Bryan transcend the challenges of their new relationship. When the two travel to Nigeria—each with their own hopes for the trip—an unexpected tragedy exposes the cracks in their relationship and forces Sommy to confront her notions of self and familial love (bloomsbury.com). Emma Specter of Vogue praises The Tiny Things Are Heavier, saying "Okonkwo's ability to skillfully narrate the triumphs, upheavals and disappointments of young love defies comparison to any other writer," while Karen Rigby of Forward Review says it's a "piercing coming-of-age novel in which a woman learns to separate other people's expectations from her own desires." Kaveh Akbar, University of Iowa professor and bestselling author of Martyr!, also praises The Tiny Things Are Heavier and calls it a "profound, lasting debut, and a sincere blast to read."
Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a fourth-year PhD student in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Her works have appeared in Isele Magazine, Southeast Review, and Catapult. She’s a recipient of the 2021 Elizabeth George Foundation Grant and a 2024 Torch Literary Arts Fellowship. Home for her is Lagos, Nigeria. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
Bruna Dantas Lobato is a writer and translator. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Guernica, A Public Space, The Dial, and The Common, and has been recognized with fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Jentel, and more. Her translation of The Words That Remain by Stênio Gardel received the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Born and raised in Natal, Brazil, she lives in Iowa and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Grinnell College. Her debut novel, Blue Light Hours, is out now from Grove Atlantic in North America and forthcoming in several countries—including Brazil, in her own translation.
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