# Tochi Onyebuchi, "Harmattan Season: A Novel" (Tor Books, 2025)

An episode of [New Books in African Studies](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/425416616), 29 Jun 2025, 28 min.

Audio: https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/8e47c793-ada0-4bf6-a48b-9dc76dcf3712/episodes/8d2450c9-ce04-4c08-8497-78c99d025a63/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=8e47c793-ada0-4bf6-a48b-9dc76dcf3712&awEpisodeId=8d2450c9-ce04-4c08-8497-78c99d025a63&feed=HJ8ImVXV

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. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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