Nigerian journalist and author Olukorede S. Yishau is set to release his third novel, Black Market, a literary fiction work that examines marriage, migration, identity, family and the pressures surrounding Nigerian life in the diaspora.
Published by Masobe Books, the novel is scheduled for release on November 24, 2026. It follows two Nigerian couples living in Houston, Texas, and explores how cultural expectations, personal ambitions and unresolved experiences can shape relationships.
A story about Nigerians living abroad
Black Market centres on two Nigerian couples, Eyitayo and Yewande, and Tobi and Bukola.
The characters are living in Texas, but their relationships remain strongly connected to Nigerian cultural expectations and experiences.
One of the questions running through the novel concerns the belief among some Nigerian immigrant communities that returning to Nigeria to find a spouse can provide greater cultural compatibility and reduce the difficulties associated with marriage abroad.
Yishau uses the relationships to examine whether that assumption necessarily produces the security people expect.
The publisher describes the novel as a story about family, marriage, migration, betrayal and the hidden transactions people make while pursuing love, belonging and survival.
Marriage becomes the central conflict
The novel’s characters approach marriage from different circumstances.
Eyitayo is a successful accountant whose carefully structured life begins to face pressure when his ageing parents arrive from Nigeria. His father’s declining health, his wife’s resentment and a secret within the family threaten the stability he has built.
Across the city, Bukola is attempting to rebuild her life after leaving an abusive marriage.
Her attempt to begin again is complicated when another relationship is damaged by betrayal.
The two stories eventually become connected, bringing questions about love, responsibility, ambition and personal choices into the same narrative.
Exploring the Nigerian diaspora experience
Although much of the novel is set in the United States, its concerns are connected to Nigerian society and the experience of Nigerians living away from home.
The characters have to negotiate expectations surrounding marriage, family responsibility and cultural identity while adapting to life in another country.
A Guardian interview with Yishau described the novel as being rooted in the Yoruba expression Oja Okunkun, which can be used in connection with marriage.
The author said the idea developed partly from his observations of Nigerians in the United States who return to Nigeria to find spouses because of the belief that someone raised within Nigerian culture may make a more suitable partner.
That observation became the starting point for a story about what happens when cultural expectations meet the realities of individual relationships.
Identity, ambition and cultural expectations
The novel goes beyond marriage.
Its themes include identity, loneliness, betrayal, ambition, emotional abuse and cultural expectations.
It also considers the pressures associated with pursuing opportunities outside Nigeria.
For the characters, migration does not erase their previous experiences. Instead, their relationships continue to be shaped by the values, expectations and personal histories they carry with them.
That creates tension between the lives they are building in the United States and the expectations connected to their Nigerian backgrounds.
Yishau’s third novel
Black Market is Yishau’s third novel and fifth book.
His previous novels include In the Name of Our Father and After The End.
Masobe Books describes Yishau as a Nigerian creative writer and multiple award-winning journalist. He is also a graduate of the University of Iowa African cohort writing programme and lives in Texas, where he writes for The Nation.
His earlier novel After The End also dealt with relationships, betrayal, loss and the connections between Nigerians and life abroad.
That earlier book moves between locations including Lagos, Liverpool, Ile-Ife and London.
Why the title is significant
The title Black Market does not refer to an illegal marketplace in the conventional sense.
Instead, the novel uses the idea of a “black market” as a metaphor connected to marriage and the expectations surrounding how relationships are formed.
The concept allows Yishau to examine the ways people can treat relationships as arrangements designed to achieve particular social or personal outcomes.
The story then asks what happens when the people involved discover that human relationships cannot always be controlled in the same way as other transactions.
A contemporary African story
Masobe Books categorises Black Market as literary fiction.
The publisher’s description focuses on family, marriage, migration, betrayal and survival, while Yishau’s own comments place the story within the experiences of Nigerians living in the diaspora.
The result is a novel that uses individual relationships to explore wider questions about modern Nigerian identity.
The characters are not living entirely within Nigerian society, but the cultural expectations they encounter remain an important part of their lives.
This gives the novel a transnational setting while keeping Nigerian experiences at its centre.
Release date and availability
Masobe Books currently lists Black Market as a pre-order title.
Its published details give the release date as November 24, 2026, with a paperback price of ₦14,000 on the publisher’s Nigerian store. The book is listed at 280 pages and carries the literary fiction classification.
Earlier reports had indicated a September release, but the publisher’s current book listing gives November 24 as the release date. For publication purposes, the publisher’s current listing should therefore take precedence over the earlier date.
Part of a busy Nigerian literary year
Yishau’s forthcoming novel is arriving during an active period for Nigerian publishing.
The Association of Nigerian Authors has also opened entries for the 2026 Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature, which accepts published novels released in 2025 or 2026. The shortlist is scheduled for October 15, with the winner due to be announced during the ANA International Annual Convention from October 29 to November 1.
Other Nigerian writers have also released new works during 2026.
For example, ANA president Usman Oladipo Akanbi released Heritage of Loss, a drama dealing with family, inheritance, greed, betrayal, resilience and character.
These developments point to continued activity across Nigeria’s literary and publishing sector.
What readers can expect
Black Market is positioned as a relationship-focused literary novel rather than a straightforward account of Nigerian migration.
Its characters face questions about marriage, family responsibility, cultural identity and the consequences of personal decisions.
The Houston setting also allows the story to examine the Nigerian diaspora from within an American environment.
For Yishau, the novel provides another opportunity to explore complicated relationships without reducing them to simple explanations.
With its November release date confirmed by the publisher, Black Market is now among the Nigerian literary titles readers can watch ahead of the final months of 2026.
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