I Am Still With You

“Epic and intimate.” – Margo Jefferson, Author of Negroland

Emmanuel Iduma never met his uncle, his father’s favourite brother and the man for whom he is named. The elder Emmanuel left home in 1967 to fight in the Biafran War and was not seen again. The war lasted for three years, with young Igbo men volunteering to fight for a breakaway republic in the chaotic wake of British decolonization. Around one hundred thousand others who fought in the war shared similar fates to Emmanuel’s uncle, though there are no official records of these losses. The tensions that gave rise to the conflict remain, threatening sometimes to bubble over. In this landscape, there are no monuments or graves. Instead, a collective remembering remains, for the most part, silent.

I Am Still With You sees a young Nigerian return to his country of birth. Travelling the route of the war, Iduma explores both a national history and the mysteries of his own family, finding both somewhat scarred and haunted, the memories warped by time and the darkest parts left for decades unspoken.