| Okey Ndibe | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 Yola, Nigeria |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genres | Political fiction |
| Notable work(s) | Arrows of Rain (novel, 2000) |
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Okey Ndibe (born 1960) is a novelist, political columnist, and essayist. Of Igbo ethnicity, Ndibe was born in Yola, Nigeria. He is the author of Arrows of Rain, a critically acclaimed novel published in 2000. He relocated to the United States in 1988 to serve as founding editor of African Commentary, a magazine described as "award-winning and widely acclaimed." Ndibe's essay, "My Biafran Eyes," about his childhood experience of war, is published in the Dzanc Best of the Web 2008. He teaches fiction and African literature at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. His poetry is published in New West African Poets, edited by the Gambian writer, Tijan Sallah. Ndibe has taught at Simon's Rock of Bard College in Great Barrington, MA, Connecticut College, New London, CT, and the University of Lagos (as a Fulbright scholar). He is finishing work on a new novel titled foreign gods, incorporated as well as a memoir, An African Doing Dutch in America. Ndibe is co-editor (with the Zimbabwean writer, Chenjerai Hove) of a collection of essays titled Writers, Writing on Conflicts and Wars in Africa (Adonis Abbey, 2009).
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Okey Ndibe was born in Yola, Nigeria.[1] His father was a postal worker, and his mother was a teacher. His early life in Nigeria was marked by the Biafran War, a subject that he later wrote about.
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. In the United States, Ndibe helped to found African Commentary, a magazine described as "award-winning and widely acclaimed.”[2] 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, Bard College at Simon's Rock, and, currently, Trinity College (Connecticut).
Ndibe is an author of short fiction, novels, poetry and political commentary. He is a regular columnist for NEXT, a Nigerian newspaper (www.234next.com). He also contributes to many other publications, including The Hartford Courant, The Fabian Society Journal, Black Issues Book Review, BBC Online.[3] He has contributed poetry to "An Anthology of New West African Poets". His first novel is titled Arrows of Rain and he is currently working on his second novel, foreign gods, incorporated.