Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

-British poet and novelist.Ben Okri"
British Council, ''Writers Directory''. . Okri is considered one of the foremost African authors in the

post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

and post-colonial traditions,"Ben Okri"
Editors, ''The Guardian'', 22 July 2008.Stefaan Anrys
"Interview with Booker Prize laureate Ben Okri"
''Mondiaal Nieuws'', 26 August 2009. and has been compared favourably to authors such as

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...

and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

. In 1991, Okri won the Booker Prize with his novel ''

The Famished Road ''The Famished Road'' is a novel by Nigerian author Ben Okri, the first book in a trilogy that continues with ''Songs of Enchantment'' (1993) and ''Infinite Riches'' (1998). Published in London in 1991 by Jonathan Cape, the story of ''The Famis ...

''.

Biography

Ben Okri is a member of the

Urhobo people The Urhobos are people located in southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta. The Urhobos are the major ethnic group in Delta State, one of the 36 states in Nigeria, Ethnic Nationality in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Urhobo ...

; his father was Urhobo, and his mother was half-

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 ...

("from

a royal family ''A Royal Family'' is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by William Nigh and starring Fuller Mellish, Montagu Love and Anna Murdock.Parish & Pitts p.293 It is also sometimes alternatively titled ''The Royal Family''. Cast * Fuller Mell ...

"). He was born in

Minna Minna is a city in Middle Belt Nigeria. It is the capital city of Niger State, one of Nigeria's 36 federal states. It consists of two major ethnic groups: the Gbagyi and the Nupe. History Archaeological evidence suggests settlement in th ...

in west central Nigeria to Grace and Silver Okri in 1959. His father, Silver, moved his family to London when Okri was less than two years old so that he could study law. Okri thus spent his earliest years in London and attended primary school in Peckham. In 1966, Silver moved his family back to Nigeria, where he practised law in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

, providing free or discounted services for those who could not afford it. After attending schools in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

and

Ikenne Ikenne is a Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ikenne at . It has an area of 144 km and a population of 118,735 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 121. Wards in Ikenne # Iken ...

, Okri began his secondary education at Urhobo College at

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial ...

, in 1968, when he was the youngest in his class. His exposure to the

Nigerian civil war The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

Anita Sethi Anita Sethi is a British journalist and writer, who was born in Manchester, England. Sethi has written for ''The Guardian,'' ''The Observer,'' ''The Sunday Times,'' ''The Independent,'' the ''New Statesman,'' ''Granta,'' and ''The Times Literary ...

"Ben Okri: novelist as dream weaver"
''TheNational'', 1 September 2011. and a culture in which his peers at the time claimed to have seen visions of spirits, later provided inspiration for Okri's fiction. At the age of 14, after being rejected for admission to a short university program in physics because of his youth and lack of qualifications, Okri experienced a revelation that poetry was his chosen calling. He began writing articles on social and political issues, but these never found a publisher. He then wrote short stories based on those articles, and some were published in women's journals and evening papers. Okri claimed that his criticism of the government in some of this early work led to his name being placed on a death list, and necessitated his departure from the country. In 1978, Okri moved back to England and went to study comparative literature at

Essex University The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Ess ...

with a grant from the Nigerian government. When funding for his scholarship fell through, however, Okri found himself homeless, sometimes living in parks and sometimes with friends. He describes this period as "very, very important" to his work: "I wrote and wrote in that period... If anything he desire to writeactually intensified." Okri's success as a writer began when he published his debut novel ''Flowers and Shadows'' in 1980, at the age of 21. From 1983 to 1986, he served as poetry editor of ''

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

'' magazine, and was also a regular contributor to the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985, continuing to publish throughout this period. His reputation as an author was secured when his novel ''

'' won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1991, making him the youngest ever winner of the prize at the age of 32. The novel was written during the three years from 1988 that Okri lived in a

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

flat rented from publisher friend Margaret Busby, and he has said: "Something about my writing changed round about that time. I acquired a kind of tranquillity. I had been striving for something in my tone of voice as a writer — it was there that it finally came together.... That flat is also where I wrote the short stories that became ''Stars of the New Curfew''."

Literary career

Quote by Ben Okri on the Memorial Gates at the Hyde Park Corner end of Constitution Hill in London, UK

Since the publication in 1980 of his first novel, ''Flowers and Shadows'', Okri has risen to an international acclaim, and he often is described as one of Africa's leading writers. His best known work, ''

'', which was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize, along with '' Songs of Enchantment'' (1993) and ''Infinite Riches'' (1998) make up a trilogy that follows the life of Azaro, a spirit-child narrator, through the social and political turmoil of an African nation reminiscent of Okri's remembrance of war-torn Nigeria. Okri's work is particularly difficult to categorise. Although it has been widely categorised as

,Douglas McCabe. "'Higher Realities': New Age Spirituality in Ben Okri's ''The Famished Road''." ''Research in African Literatures'', vol. 36, no. 4 (2005), 1–21. some scholars have noted that the seeming realism with which he depicts the spirit-world challenges this categorisation. If Okri does attribute reality to a spiritual world, it is claimed, then his "allegiances are not postmodern ecausehe still believes that there is something ahistorical or transcendental conferring legitimacy on some, and not other, truth-claims." Alternative characterisations of Okri's work suggest an allegiance to Yoruba folklore,

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

ism, Anthony K. Appiah, "Spiritual Realism." Review of ''The Famished Road'', by Ben Okri. ''The Nation'', 3–10 August 1992, 146–148. spiritual realism,

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) Magical (foaled 18 May 2015) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over middle distances and was rated in the top twenty racehorses in the world in 2018 and ...

, visionary materialism, and

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

. Against these analyses, Okri has always rejected the categorisation of his work as magical realism, claiming that this categorisation is the result of laziness on the part of critics and likening this categorisation to the observation that "a horse ... has four legs and a tail. That doesn't describe it." He has instead described his fiction as obeying a kind of "dream logic," and stated that his fiction often is preoccupied with the "philosophical conundrum ... what is reality?" insisting that: :"I grew up in a tradition where there are simply more dimensions to reality: legends and myths and ancestors and spirits and death ... Which brings the question: what is reality? Everyone's reality is different. For different perceptions of reality we need a different language. We like to think that the world is rational and precise and exactly how we see it, but something erupts in our reality which makes us sense that there's more to the fabric of life. I'm fascinated by the mysterious element that runs through our lives. Everyone is looking out of the world through their emotion and history. Nobody has an absolute reality." He notes the effect of personal choices, "Beware of the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world." Okri's short fiction has been described as more realistic and less fantastic than his novels, but these stories also depict Africans in communion with spirits, while his poetry and nonfiction have a more overt political tone, focusing on the potential of Africa and the world to overcome the problems of modernity. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed an OBE for services to Literature. Okri was made an honorary vice-president of the English Centre for the International PEN and a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre. On 26 April 2012, Okri was appointed the new vice-president of the

Caine Prize for African Writing The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

, having been on the advisory committee and associated with the prize since it was established 13 years prior. In April 2019, Okri gave the keynote address at the second

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

African Book Festival, curated by

Tsitsi Dangarembga Tsitsi Dangarembga (born 4 February 1959) is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, '' Nervous Conditions'' (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC i ...

Influences

Okri has described his work as influenced as much by the philosophical texts in his father's book shelves, as it was by literature,"Interview: Ben Okri – Booker prize-winning novelist and poet"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', 5 March 2010. and Okri cites the influence of both

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

and Michel de Montaigne on his ''A Time for New Dreams''. His literary influences include ''

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

'', '' Arabian Nights'', Shakespeare's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', and Coleridge's "

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of ''Lyrical Ballad ...

". Okri's 1999 epic poem, ''Mental Fight'', also is named after a quotation from the poet

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's " And did those feet ...", and critics have noted the close relationship between Blake and Okri's poetry.Matthew J. A. Green, "Dreams of Freedom: Magical Realism and Visionary Materialism in Okri and Blake", ''Romanticism'', vol. 15, no. 1 (2009), 18–32. Okri also was influenced by the

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

of his people, and particularly, his mother's storytelling: "If my mother wanted to make a point, she wouldn't correct me, she'd tell me a story." His first-hand experiences of civil war in Nigeria are said to have inspired many of his works. On the final day of the 2021 COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow, Okri wrote about the existential threat posed by the

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

and how illequipped humans seem to be to confront the prospect of their own self-inflicted extinction. Indeed, Okri says, " have to find a new art and a new psychology to penetrate the apathy and the denial that are preventing us making the changes that are inevitable if our world is to survive."

Awards and honours

* 1987: Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region, Best Book) – ''Incidents at the Shrine'' * 1987:

Aga Khan Prize for Fiction The Aga Khan Prize for Fiction was awarded by the editors of ''The Paris Review'' for what they deem to be the best short story published in the magazine in a given year. The last prize was given in 2004. No applications were accepted. The winner ...

– ''The Dream Vendor's August'' * 1988: Guardian Fiction Prize – ''Stars of the New Curfew'' (shortlisted) * 1991–1993: Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts (FCCA),

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

* 1991: Booker Prize – ''

'' * 1993: Chianti Ruffino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize – ''The Famished Road'' * 1994: Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy) -''The Famished Road'' * 1995: Crystal Award (

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

) * 1997: Honorary Doctorate of Literature, awarded by

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...

* 1999: (Italy) – ''Dangerous Love'' * 2001:

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) * 2002: Honorary Doctorate of Literature, awarded by

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

* 2003: Chosen as one of 100 Great Black Britons * 2004: Honorary Doctor of Literature, awarded by

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

* 2008: International Literary Award Novi Sad ( International Novi Sad Literature Festival, Serbia) * 2009: Honorary Doctorate of Utopia, awarded by Universiteit voor het Algemeen Belang, Belgium * 2010: Honorary Doctorate, awarded by

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

* 2010: Honorary Doctorate of Arts, awarded by the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

* 2014:

Honorary Fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Man ...

* 2014: Bad Sex in Fiction Award, ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...

Works

Novels

* ''Flowers and Shadows'' (Harlow:

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

, 1980) * ''The Landscapes Within'' (Harlow: Longman, 1981) * ''

'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1991) * '' Songs of Enchantment'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1993) * '' Astonishing the Gods'' (London:

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld a ...

, 1995) * '' Dangerous Love'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996) * ''Infinite Riches'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) * '' In Arcadia'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002) * '' Starbook'' (London: Rider Books, 2007) * '' The Age of Magic'' (London: Head of Zeus, 2014) * '' The Freedom Artist'' (London: Head of Zeus, 2019)

Poetry, essays and short story collections

* ''Incidents at the Shrine'' (short stories; London: Heinemann, 1986) * ''Stars of the New Curfew'' (short stories; London:

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, 1988) * ''An African Elegy'' (poetry; London: Jonathan Cape, 1992) * ''Birds of Heaven'' (essays; London: Phoenix House, 1996) * ''A Way of Being Free'' (essays; London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 1997; London: Phoenix House, 1997) * ''Mental Fight'' (poetry: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999; London: Phoenix House, 1999) * ''Tales of Freedom'' (short stories; London: Rider & Co., 2009) * ''A Time for New Dreams'' (essays; London: Rider & Co., 2011) * ''Wild'' (poetry; London: Rider & Co., 2012) *''The Mystery Feast: Thoughts on Storytelling'' (West Hoathly: Clairview Books, Ltd, 2015) * ''The Magic Lamp: Dreams of Our Age'', with paintings by Rosemary Clunie (Apollo/Head of Zeus, 2017) * ''Rise Like Lions: Poetry for the many'' (as editor; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2018) * ''Prayer for the Living: Stories'' (London: Head of Zeus, 2019) * ''A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn'' (London: Head of Zeus, 2021)

Film

* '' N – The Madness of Reason'' (feature film, directed by Peter Krüger, 2014)"N – The Madness of Reason"
'' Blinkerfilm'', 9 March 2015.

Online fiction

References

Relevant literature

*Irene, Michael Oshoke. 2015. ''Re-inventing oral tradition in Ben Okri's trilogy : The Famished Road, Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches''. Anglia Ruskin University, doctoral dissertation.

External links

Official website

Ben Okri's AALBC.com Author Profile

Ben Okri's official Facebook Page

Ben Okri's MySpace page
* Ben Okri'
official page on the Booker Prizes website

Full length You Tube video of Ben Okri winning the 1991 Booker Prize

– an extensive bibliography of works by and about Ben Okri. Also includes a short biography and an introduction to his work.
Audio: Ben Okri in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme
''The Forum'', 19 July 2009.
Ben Okri on RSA Audio
4 April 2011.

a poem by Ben Okri.
"Draw"
a poem by Ben Okri.

, a poem by Ben Okri.
"Children of the Dream"
a poem by Ben Okri.

a poem by Ben Okri.
"I sing a new freedom"
a poem by Ben Okri.
"As clouds pass above our heads..."
a poem by Ben Okri.
"O That Abstract Garden"
, a poem by Ben Okri.
Ben Okri: An extended film interview with transcripts for the ''Why Are We Here?'' documentary series
* Réhab Abdelghany
"A Question of Power: Ben Okri's 'Meditations on Greatness' at Africa Writes"
''Africa in Words'', 24 August 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Okri, Ben 1959 births Living people 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century male writers 21st-century Nigerian novelists Alumni of the University of Essex Black British writers Booker Prize winners English people of Nigerian descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Magic realism writers Nigerian fantasy writers Nigerian male novelists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Minna Urhobo people Weird fiction writers