Nduka Otiono

NDUKA OTIONO is a writer, Associate Professor of African Studies and English, and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research. Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria, General Secretary of Association of Nigerian Authors, founding member of the Nigerian chapter of UNESCO’s Committee on Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage, and founding member of the Board of the annual Nigerian Prize for Literature. His works have appeared in Journal of Folklore Research; African Literature Today; Canadian Journal of African Studies; Canadian Review of Comparative Literature; Journal of African Cinema; Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Postcolonial Text, Wasafiri, etc. His recent books include the co-edited volumes: Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (Routledge 2021); Polyvocal Bob Dylan: Music, Performance, Literature (Palgrave 2019) and Wreaths for a Wayfarer: An Anthology of Poems in Honour of Pius Adesanmi (Daraja Press Canada & Narrative Landscape 2020). His other published co-edited volumes are Camouflage: The Best of Contemporary Nigerian Writing (Treasure Books 2006), and We-Men: An Anthology of Men Writing on Women (Oracle Books 1998).

His single-author creative writing publications include The Night Hides with a Knife (short stories), joint winner of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA)/Spectrum Prize for Fiction; Voices in the Rainbow (Poetry), a finalist for the ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize; Love in a Time of Nightmares (Poetry) for which he was awarded the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing.

His professional honours include a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Capital Educator’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Carleton University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Early Career Award for Research Excellence, Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship, and Black History Ottawa Community Builder Award. He is also the Principal Investigator for a Queen Elizabeth II Advanced Scholars West Africa grant and Vice President of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS).

His latest book, DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono, is due to be released in October 2021 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canada.