Chidera Nneoma Okolie (born 27 March 1993) is a Nigerian writer who gained national attention with her debut novel ''When Silence Becomes Too Loud'' released in 2014.

Biography

Okolie was born in

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

Southeast Nigeria Igboland (Standard ), also known as Southeastern Nigeria (but extends into South-Southern Nigeria), is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. It is a cultural and common linguistic region in southern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divided b ...

. As a young child, Okolie began showing signs of her love for literature, as she did considerably well in her literature courses in school and also began writing short stories for her classmates, while in high school. Okolie went on to study Law at the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has thr ...

and was admitted to the

Nigerian bar The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is a non-profit, umbrella professional association of all lawyers admitted to the bar in Nigeria. It is engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria. T ...

in November 2016.

Literary career

Okolie published her first novel, ''When Silence Becomes Too Loud'', in December 2014 while a law student. In March 2015 the novel was endorsed by then President of Nigeria,

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

, in an entrepreneurship initiative in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. In September 2017, she released of her second publication, ''Not Forgiven'', a collection of short psychological thriller stories.

Idios Creatives

In February 2018, Okolie founded Idios Creatives, a platform for young aspiring writers and creatives to express their creativity. In April 2018, she initiated the Idios Prize for Flash Fiction and Poetry, which attracted participation from at least 397 school children. One hundred stories were selected by Okolie and compiled into a book titled ''The Future: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems by Children of Selected Nigerian Schools'', which was released in November 2018.

Honours

In June 2015, Okolie was nominated for the

African Achievers Awards The African Achievers Awards is an annual awards event."List ...

. In 2016, she was named Fiction Writer of the Year and one of the 100 most influential Nigerian writers under 40 at the first Nigerian Writers Awards. She was also named Fiction Writer of the Year at the Xperience Womanity Awards. In 2017, Okolie received the award for the ''Most Outstanding Fiction Writer of the Year'' by Alpha Gamma Multimedia Limited. In January 2019, she was listed among the 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians by AvanceMedia in the category Law & Governance.

External links

Idios Creatives

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okolie, Chidera Living people 1993 births 21st-century Nigerian women writers