Buchi Emecheta OBE (21 July 1944, in Yaba, Lagos – 25 January 2017 in London) was a Nigerian writer. Her first novel, In the Ditch, was published in 1972. Her second novel was published in 1974. The novel is set in London, where Emecheta lived when she wrote it. Emecheta's most well known novel is The Joys of Motherhood.