Chioma Okereke is a Nigerian-born poet, author and short story writer. Her debut novel, ''Bitter Leaf'' (2010), was shortlisted for the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

– Africa Best First Book 2011.

Biography

Okereke was born in

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. She moved to Britain at the age of six and attended several boarding-schools, before completing her sixth-form education at

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

in Canons, Middlesex. Okereke graduated with an LLB degree from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. A poet and short story writer who performed internationally, Okereke had her early work published in ''Bum Rush The Page'' and ''

Callaloo Callaloo (many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux or callalloo; ) is a popular Caribbean vegetable dish. There are many variants across the Caribbean, depending on the availability of local vegetables. The main in ...

'' literary magazine. She was shortlisted for the Undiscovered Authors Competition in 2006, as well as for the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'''s Write a Novel in a Year Competition 2007. Her debut novel ''Bitter Leaf'' was published in 2010 by

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...

and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize - Africa Best First Book 2011. Her short story "Trompette de la Mort" was First Runner up for the inaugural Costa Short Story Award in the 2012

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

and her work was included in the ''Virago is 40'' anthology (2013).

External links

Official website

The Soho Agency - Chioma Okereke

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okereke, Chioma Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Benin City Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Black British women writers Nigerian women novelists 21st-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century Nigerian women writers English-language poets Costa Book Award winners Igbo novelists Igbo poets Igbo short story writers Igbo women writers Nigerian women short story writers Nigerian short story writers Nigerian women poets English people of Nigerian descent Magic realism writers Igbo people