After a brush with death pushed Othuke Ominiabohs to self-publish his novels, he realised there was a gap in the market for fresh African writing

In a hospital bed fearing his death was imminent, English teacher Othuke Ominiabohs thought ruefully of his four unpublished novels. “My biggest regret was I was going to die, and no one would see my work,” says Ominiabohs. “When I got better, I decided to self-publish and put those books out there for the rest of the world to read.”

His kidney failure was later cured by a transplant, and his literary ambitions led him to found Masobe Books, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing independent publishers.