I am deeply thankful to every literary journal editor who took a chance on publishing and promoting my work, always with such kindness and enthusiasm. I learned much about resilience and refinement from you all.
Major gratitude to Carolyn Forde, my tireless and supportive agent, for championing Perfect Little Angels. Likewise to the incredible Brian Lam and the entire Arsenal Pulp Press team for diligently bringing these stories to life. Catharine Chen’s careful edits taught me much and strengthened my work, and Jazmin Welch’s sharp eye for design bestowed it with aesthetic warmth. I am also thankful to the skilled Julian Adon Alexander for his gorgeous, affecting art, which graces the cover.
Immeasurable love and thanks to Professor Helen Elaine Lee, who helped me clarify early on the kind of writer I wanted to be and granted me such hospitality in my early days at MIT. I was a teenage boy far away from Nigeria, separated from my family, and you often felt like a second home. Your lessons about craft and life will linger forever.
The earliest drafts of a few stories here passed through the meticulous minds of Chelsea Barabas, Chloe Yang, Daniel Guberek, and Nailah Smith. I am grateful for your judicious insights during our many online workshop sessions. To my friends who read a number of these stories with much hype—Benjamin Kwashigah, Brenda and Gary Doyle, Deborah Sedem, Devon Clarke, Korede Ogunyinka, Kosi Nwagbara, Nicholas Bacquie, Odera Adimorah, Samuel Nwaokpani, Sele Akioyamen—your euphoric endorsements had me blushing in front of my computer screen at four in the morning.
Sometimes, the words stopped. The cursor blinked and blinked. Burnout crept in alongside skeptical twilight voices. I am thankful to all my companions who rejuvenated me with food, time, much-needed distractions, and endless encouragement: Akailah and Traven Smith, Clarity Nwaokpani, IK Okoro (all those existential, engine-revving midnight chats on the balcony), Paul Soladoye, Priscilla Larbi, Tolu Akinola, and many, many more. Daalụ niile.
I am also grateful to the CBC, the Commonwealth Foundation, and the Writers’ Trust of Canada for the opportunities they’ve offered me these last few years. Your calls and emails marked some of my most exciting days, and your work to support writers is so deeply impactful.
When I was seven, I handwrote my very first story—a ridiculous if earnest piece about a boy disowned for spending bread money on ice cream—and afterward spent most of my prepubescent years continuing with other ridiculous stories on a slow, cranky desktop computer my parents got me. Mom, Dad, you filled my early years with books, allowed me my earliest creative space. Because of you, my siblings, and everyone who is family, I write, love, and feel loved. Endlessly. Even on the decidedly non-angelic days. Life’s icy periods would be utterly unmanageable without your warmth. Thank you.