British-Nigerian author Noo Saro-Wiwa has been announced as the winner of the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year 2025 for her work Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China.
The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards celebrate outstanding travel literature, recognizing books that inspire, educate, and challenge perceptions of the world. The judges commended Saro-Wiwa’s work for its courage and sensitivity in documenting a little-known community’s struggles and triumphs saying:
“Writing this book took determination, stamina, and courage. The People’s Republic of China is a huge nation, and the Black communities sought out by Noo are hard to find and penetrate. She tells the stories of the Black Ghosts she finds with great sensitivity and compassion,”
Black Ghosts explores the lives of African economic migrants in China, a country that has become both a land of opportunity and a site of racial and cultural tensions. In her search for China’s ‘Black Ghosts,’ Saro-Wiwa meets individuals from diverse backgrounds—a cardiac surgeon, a drug dealer, a visa overstayer, and men married to Chinese women who speak English with Nigerian accents. These migrants, often clustered in tight-knit communities, play a crucial role in trade between Africa and China while navigating the complexities of discrimination, identity, and survival.
Told with candor and compassion, the book is a compelling narrative of intersecting cultures, highlighting the shared humanity between migrants and their hosts in an ever-globalizing world.
Born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and raised in England, Noo Saro-Wiwa is an acclaimed author and journalist. She attended King’s College, London and Columbia University in New York. Her debut book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (2012), received critical acclaim, being named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year 2012 and shortlisted for the Author’s Club Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award. Saro-Wiwa contributes to publications such as Condé Nast Traveller, The Guardian, and The Financial Times, and was recognized by Condé Nast Traveller in 2018 as one of The World’s 30 Most Influential Female Travellers.
Congratulations Noo Saro-Wiwa on this great win!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
