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Jun 29, 2025
Harmattan Season
A Novel
Summary
Tochi Onyebuchi’s novel Harmattan Season: A Novel (Tor Books, 2025) follows Boubacar, a veteran and private eye living in French occupied West Africa, as he begins a reluctant journey to discover what happened to the bleeding woman who stumbled onto his doorway and vanished soon after. That mystery quickly drags Bouba into exactly the kind of violence and political intrigue he had been working so hard to avoid.
In this interview, Onyebuchi describes finding Boubacar’s voice and the different noir tropes he was most excited about. We discuss fiction as a way to examine colonialism, magic as a tool for social exploration as well as engaging set pieces, and the joy of fast-paced novels. We also talk depictions of violence, world-wise urchin kids, and experimentation and growth throughout a writing career.
Harmattan Season is a compelling and thoughtful adventure and it was so much fun discussing it with the author.
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A. E. Lanier
A. E. Lanier is a short fiction writer and educator living in Central Texas. More about her work can be found at aelanier.com.
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