Blackass

Blackass is a story about a young Nigerian Furo Wariboko,^[4] who wakes up on the eve of a job interview to discover that he has transformed into a white guy overnight. As he adjusts to his new appearance, he meets Arinze, who offers Furo a far more lucrative job than he expected.^[5]

The Financial Times called Blackass "strange (and) compelling, (...with) something to tell us all", and explicitly compared it to Kafka's The Metamorphosis.^[3] Writing in The Guardian, Helon Habila lauded Barrett for "his ability to satirise the ridiculous extents people, especially Lagosians, go to in order to appear important."^[2] Claire Fallon for the Huffington Post found the novel to be "blunt (and) transparently written", but also "subtle (and) circumspect."^[6] Aaron Bady of Okayafrica stated that it is "the most unapologetically Nigerian book that American publishers have published in a long time".^[7]

In 2016, Blackass won the People's Literature Publishing House and the Chinese Foreign Literature Society's 21st Century Best Foreign Novel Award.^[8] It was nominated for the inaugural FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards,^[9] the 2017 PEN Open Book Award,^[10] the 2015 Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award,^[11] and the inaugural Nommo Award for Best Novel.^[12] In 2017, Blackass was nominated for a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the debut fiction category.^[13][14]