Chibundu Onuzo | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Onuzo in 2019 | |
| Born | Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo 1991 (age 32–33) Lagos, Nigeria |
| Years active | 2012– |
| Notable work |
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Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo FRSL (born 1991) is a Nigerian novelist. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award,[1] was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize[2] and the Commonwealth Book Prize,[3] and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize[4] and the Etisalat Prize for Literature.[5]
Chibundu Onuzo was born in 1991 in Nigeria, the youngest of four children of parents who are doctors, and grew up in Lagos.[6][7] She moved to England when she was 14 to study at an all-girls' school in Winchester, Hampshire, for her GCSEs,[8] and at the age of 17 began writing her first novel, which was signed two years later by Faber and Faber and was published when she was 21.[9][10] She was the youngest female writer ever taken on by the publisher.[11] Reviewing her second book, Welcome to Lagos (2016), Helon Habila wrote in The Guardian: "Onuzo's portrayal of human character is often too optimistic, her view of politics and society too charitable; but her ability to bring her characters to life, including the city of Lagos, perhaps the best-painted character of all, is impressive."[12]
Onuzo received a first-class bachelor's degree in history from King's College London (2012),[13][5] and went on to earn a master's degree in public policy from University College London.[7] She studied for a PhD at King's College London, researching the West African Students' Union.[14][15]
She has written for outlets including The Guardian[16] and NPR,[17] and is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[18]
Onuzo's third novel Sankofa was published in the UK by Virago in June 2021,[19] and was reviewed by The Guardian as "[a]n accomplished novel that explores difference and belonging with a cool intensity".[20] Brittle Paper described it as "a love story, a political history, and a father-daughter drama".[21] Sankofa was published by Catapult in the US and by Narrative Landscape in Nigeria.[22][23]
