Sandstone scoops doctor's 'vivid' memoir of medicine in Nigeria

Sandstone Press has acquired Small by Small: Becoming a Doctor in 1990s Nigeria by Ike Anya, a "humorous and always moving" memoir about the author’s medical career.

Publishing director Moira Forsyth bought English-language rights in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth (excluding Canada and Nigeria) from Jessica Bullock at Wylie.

"Ike Anya’s story of training as a doctor in tempestuous 1990s Nigeria charts the triumphs and failures of his student days through to his first demanding year as a house officer where there is no such thing as disposable PPE," the synopsis reads. "Full of compassion and insight, often humorous and always moving, this is a unique doctor’s journey."

Anya is a consultant in public health medicine in Nigeria and the UK; most recently he has been supporting the NHS response to Covid in Scotland. He trained as a medical doctor in Nigeria before specialist training in public health medicine in the Britain. He teaches at Bristol University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A 2007 TED Global Fellow, he co-founded the Abuja Literary Society, Nigeria Health Watch, TEDxEuston and EpiAfric health consultancy firm.

"What attracted me to Ike Anya’s Small by Small was that it introduced me to a doctor’s training and early career that’s startlingly different from that in the UK, while having many things in common," Forsyth said. "There are many popular medical memoirs but I’m not aware of any from a perspective outside the UK or the US. I love the freshness and honesty of Ike’s narrative and the vividness with which he portrays a politically troubled but socially and culturally vibrant Nigeria."

Anya said: "I am delighted that Small by Small is being published by Sandstone, who have such love for the book. Having grown up in the small town of Nsukka, Nigeria, I like the fact that they are a small independent press."

The memoir will publish in hardback on 18th May.