Chinelo Okparanta

Chinelo Okparanta

Chinelo Okparanta reads at Mission Creek Festival, Iowa City
Born Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Occupation novelist, short story writer
Nationality Nigerian-American
Period 2010s
Notable works Happiness, Like Water

Chinelo Okparanta is a Nigerian-American writer.[1] Born and raised in Port Harcourt, Nigeria,[2] she emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 10.[3]

Early life

Chinelo Okparanta was educated at Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[2]

Career

Okparanta has published short stories in publications including Granta, The New Yorker, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, TriQuarterly, Conjunctions, Subtropics and The Coffin Factory, and has held fellowships or visiting professorships at The University of Iowa, Colgate University and Purdue University.[2] Her essays have appeared in Granta, AGNI, The Story Prize blog, and the University of Iowa International Writing Program blog.

Her debut short story collection, Happiness, Like Water (Granta Books), was longlisted for the 2013 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, shortlisted for the 2014 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, and won the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.[4] She has been nominated for a United States Artists Fellowship and was a finalist for the 2014 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in Literature. Other honors include the 2013 Society of Midland Authors Award (finalist), the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing (finalist), and a 2014 O. Henry Award.

Happiness, Like Water was an Editors' Choice for The New York Times Book Review on September 20, 2013. It was also listed as one of The Guardian's Best African Fiction of 2013, and in December 2014 was announced as being on the shortlist for the Etisalat Prize for Literature.[5][6]

Her first novel, Under the Udala Trees, was published in 2015.[7][8]

References

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