Okechukwu "Okey" Ndibe (born 1960) is a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, political columnist, and essayist of

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

ethnicity. Ndibe was born in

Yola, Nigeria Yola ( Fulfulde: Ƴoola), meaning 'Great Plain' or 'Vast Plain Land', is the largest city, capital city and administrative center of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Located on the Benue River, it has a population of 336,648 (2010). Yola is splited into t ...

. He is the author of ''Arrows of Rain'' and ''Foreign Gods, Inc.'', two critically acclaimed novels published in 2000 and 2014 respectively.

Career

Ndibe worked in Nigeria as a journalist and magazine editor, and came to the United States in 1988 at the invitation of famous Nigerian writer

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and '' magnum opus'', ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), occupies ...

. In the United States, Ndibe helped to found ''African Commentary'', a magazine described as "award-winning and widely acclaimed". Ndibe holds both an MFA in writing and a PhD in literature from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

. He continued to write for magazines and papers in the United States, winning the 2001 Association of Opinion Page Editors award for best opinion essay in an American newspaper for his piece "Eyes to the Ground: The Perils of the Black Student". Ndibe has worked as a professor at several colleges, including

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

at Simon's Rock, Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Brown University. He is currently the Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute at

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Ndibe is an author of short fiction, novels, poetry and political commentary. He is a regular columnist for ''

NEXT Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

'', a Nigerian newspaper. He also contributes to many other publications, including ''

The Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'', ''The Fabian Society Journal'', '' Black Issues Book Review'',

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Publication and reception

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

John Edgar Wideman John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus o ...

Ngugi wa Thiong'o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to: *Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright * Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer *David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya * ...

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Cleveland Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of M ...

Foreign Gods, Inc.

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Chenjerai Hove

His essay "My Biafran Eyes," about his childhood experience of war, is published in ''Best of the Web 2008'' (

Dzanc Books Dzanc Books is an American independent press book publisher. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private foundation. Michelle Dotter is publisher and editor-in-chief. Background Dzanc Books was founded in 2006 by Steven Gillis, a lawyer turned novelis ...

). His poetry is published in ''New West African Poets'', edited by the Gambian writer

Tijan Sallah Tijan M. Sallah (born 6 March 1958) is a Gambian people, Gambian poet and prose writer. Early life Tijan Sallah was born in Serekunda, The Gambia, on 6 March 1958. His mother was of Wolof people, Wolof ethnicity and his father was a Toucouleur ...

. Ndibe has taught at Brown University in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Simon's Rock of

in Great Barrington, MA,

, New London, CT, and the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

(as a Fulbright scholar). He is currently working on a novel titled ''Return Flights'' as well as a memoir, ''Going Dutch and other American Mis/Adventures.''

Selected publications

* *

References

External links

Official website

Foreign Gods, Incorporated

SOHO PressWebcast Okey Ndibe at the Library of Congress, 21 May 2015
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ndibe, Okey 1960 births Living people American male novelists Nigerian male novelists Igbo novelists 21st-century American novelists Nigerian poets Nigerian academics Nigerian activists Brown University faculty Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty Connecticut College faculty Bard College at Simon's Rock faculty Igbo activists Igbo poets People from Adamawa State Nigerian essayists 21st-century essayists 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts Novelists from Connecticut Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century African-American writers