Every Day Is for the Thief

Nigerian author Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief is a work of autofiction originally published in Nigeria in 2007 and published in the US in 2014. The novel unfolds in picaresque style from the first-person perspective, as a narrator who closely resembles the author returns to Nigeria after 15 years in the US to reckon with Nigerian national identity and his own legacy. Surprised to find that he feels less comfortable in his homeland as he would have expected, he struggles to readjust to the realities of Lagosian life. Rather than get bogged down with plot, Cole delivers a sensory exploration of this African city, resulting in individual moments that, combined, render an authentic and complex portrait of Lagos.

This guide uses the 2015 Random House Trade Paperback Edition.

Plot Summary

Every Day Is for the Thief follows an unnamed narrator as he journeys from New York City back to his hometown of Lagos for the first time in 15 years. He’s searching for an understanding of Nigeria as a modern place through the lens of an emigrant without strong ties to his homeland—his Nigerian father is long dead, and he’s estranged from his white mother, who also left Lagos—and is trying to decide if he still belongs.