Beginning in the late 1980s, northern Nigeria saw a boom in popular fiction written in the Hausa language. Known as
littattafan soyayya (“love literature”), the books are often inspired by Hindi films—which have been hugely popular among Hausa speakers for decades—and are primarily written by women. They have sparked a craze among young adult readers as well as a backlash from government censors and book-burning conservatives.
Sin Is a Puppy That Follows You Home is an Islamic soap opera complete with polygamous households, virtuous women, scheming harlots, and black magic. It’s the first full-length novel ever translated from Hausa to English. And it’s quite unlike anything you’ve ever read before.
