Uwem Akpan, author of Say You're One of Them, is a Nigerian-born priest based in Zimbabwe. (Comfort Ukpong/Little, Brown & Co./Associated Press) Oprah Winfrey has chosen a collection of short stories about Africa as her next book club pick.

Uwem Akpan's debut collection, Say You're One of Them, has stories about children facing slavery, religious rioting and other distressing situations.

Akpan, a Nigerian Jesuit priest now working in Nigeria, says he grew up in a village with a tradition of storytelling. He studied creative writing at the University of Michigan and sold a short story to the New Yorker in 2005, which led to a book deal.

Winfrey has a strong connection to Africa, having funded a school for girls in South Africa and backed educational projects, such as building schools, in several African countries.

In anointing a short story collection for her book club, Winfrey is giving a boost to a perennial underdog.

Oprah's Book Club choices traditionally sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

Say You're One of Them was praised for its level view of Africa's horrors by critics in the New York Times and Guardian, but others found his approach maudlin and said it reinforced stereotypes about Africa.

But on The Oprah Winfrey Show Friday, Winfrey called it "an incredible book" and said each of his five stories left her gasping.