World Literary Awards

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Chigozie Obioma

チゴジー・オビオマ

Chigozie Obioma

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1986 （Akure, Nigeria）
Nationality
Nigeria
Languages
English, Yoruba, Igbo
Residence History
Akure, Nigeria → Northern Cyprus (study) → United States (Michigan, Nebraska, Georgia)

Career

Occupations
Author, Poet, Professor
Active Years
2011-
Affiliations
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (former affiliation), University of Georgia (Helen S. Lanier Professor of Creative Writing and English), Oxbelly (founder & program director)
Influenced By
Amos Tutuola, Thomas Hardy, Arundhati Roy, Vladimir Nabokov, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Cyprian Ekwensi, Camara Laye, D. O. Fagunwa, Shakespeare, John Milton, John Bunyan (British classics)

Education

Cyprus International University
Country: Cyprus
Reported to have graduated at the top of his class
University of Michigan
Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Year of Graduation: 2014
Country: United States
Received Hopwood Awards for fiction (2013) and poetry (2014)

Awards

FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award
2015
Work: The Fishermen
Organization: Financial Times / OppenheimerFunds
Result: Winner
NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author)
2016
Work: The Fishermen
Organization: NAACP
Result: Winner
Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
2016
Work: The Fishermen
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: Winner
Nebraska Book Award For Fiction
2016
Work: The Fishermen
Organization: Lincoln City Libraries / Nebraska
Result: Winner
Earphones Award (Audiobook)
2016
Work: The Fishermen (audiobook)
Organization: AudioFile Magazine
Result: Winner
Internationaler Literaturpreis (joint winner)
2019
Work: An Orchestra of Minorities
Organization: Deutsche Welle / International Literature Award committee
Result: Winner (joint)
Man Booker Prize
2015
Work: The Fishermen
Organization: Booker Prize Foundation
Result: Finalist
Man Booker Prize
2019
Work: An Orchestra of Minorities
Organization: Booker Prize Foundation
Result: Finalist
Dublin Literary Award (longlisted)
2025
Work: The Road to the Country
Organization: Dublin City Libraries
Result: Longlisted
Joyce Carol Oates Prize (longlisted)
2025
Work: The Road to the Country
Organization: Joyce Carol Oates Prize committee
Result: Longlisted
Foreign Policy 100 Leading Global Thinkers
2015
Organization: Foreign Policy
Result: Named

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Fishermen

2015 Novel (family saga / social novel)

Set against Nigeria's troubled 1993 elections, it follows brothers whose lives are upended by a prophetic figure; a tale of sibling bonds, prophecy and societal fracture.

FamilyProphecy & supernaturalNigerian politics and societyBrotherhood and rivalry
Adaptations
  • [Theatre] The Fishermen (stage adaptation) / Gbolahan Obisesan (2018)
Translations
  • Translated into over 30 languages

An Orchestra of Minorities

2019 Novel (migration, love, exploitation)

A Nigerian poultry farmer travels to Northern Cyprus to prove himself worthy of the woman he loves, confronting racism, exploitation and personal tragedy.

Migration experienceLove and self-worthExploitation and scamsInter-ethnic tensions
Translations
  • Translated into multiple languages

The Road to the Country

2024 Novel (war novel)

A war novel set during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) following a search for a missing brother, narrated in part by a seer; mixes realism and the supernatural to evoke the tragedy of conflict.

War and memoryBrotherhoodSupernatural narrationEthnic and linguistic fault lines

Bibliography

  • The Fishermen (2015)
  • An Orchestra of Minorities (2019)
  • The Road to the Country (2024)

Adaptations

  • Stage adaptation of The Fishermen (adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan for New Perspectives theatre company)

Translations of Works

  • The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities have been translated into over 30 languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Blend of realism and mysticismLyrical, powerful proseIncorporation of folklore and oral-tradition storytelling
Recurring Motifs
Prophecy / seersFamily and brotherhoodMigration and diasporic hardshipWar and collective memory

Legacy

One of the leading contemporary Nigerian writers. He gained international recognition with his debut The Fishermen and has continued to receive critical acclaim. As an academic he contributes to training a new generation of writers and has served on major literary prize juries.

In Popular Culture

  • The Fishermen has been staged and widely translated, increasing public recognition

Quotes

  • The novel is a tribute to my siblings and aims to build a portrait of Nigeria at a seminal moment (the annulled 1993 elections), in order to deconstruct and illuminate the ideological potholes that impede the nation's progress.
    Source: Interview / Pushkin Press Q&A (2014)
  • I believe mixing realism and mysticism can help retell the tragedy of war.
    Source: Critical reviews (excerpted from reviews in The Economist and others) (2024)

Trivia

  • Born into a family of 12 children (seven brothers, four sisters)
  • The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities have been translated into over 30 languages
  • His time studying in Northern Cyprus inspired parts of An Orchestra of Minorities
  • Served as a judge for the Booker Prize in 2021
  • Founder of the Oxbelly Writers Retreat