Ben Okri

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Ben Okri (born March 15, 1959) is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Having spent his early childhood in London, he and his family returned to Nigeria in 1968. He later left for England, embarking on studies at the University of Essex. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Westminster (1997) and the University of Essex (2002), and was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2001.

Since publishing his first novel, Flowers and Shadows (1980), Okri has risen to international acclaim, and he is often described as one of Africa's greatest writers. His best known work, The Famished Road, was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize, making him the youngest winner of that prize. He has also been described as a magic realist, although he has shrugged off that tag. His first-hand experiences of civil war in Nigeria are said to have inspired many of his works. He writes about both the mundane and the metaphysical, the individual and the collective, and his writing enthrals the reader, drawing him/her into a world with vivid descriptions.

Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre for the International PEN, an association of writers with 130 branches in over 100 countries. He is also a member of the United Kingdom's Royal National Theatre.

[edit] Awards

1987 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region, Best Book) - Incidents at the Shrine
1987 Paris Review/Aga Khan Prize for Fiction - Incidents at the Shrine
1988 The Guardian Fiction Prize - Stars of the New Curfew (shortlisted)
1991 Booker Prize for Fiction - The Famished Road
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)
2000 Premio Palmi (Italy) - Dangerous Love