Iheoma Nwachukwu

Iheoma Nwachukwu is a Nigerian fiction writer and poet based in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Eastern University, in St Davids.[1] He is the author of the short story collection, Japa and Other Stories,[2] which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.[3] In 2025, Japa and Other Stories was a finalist for the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize.[4]

Early life and education

Nwachukwu was born in Lagos. He earned his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of Calabar in 2002. After working at his father's advertising company and playing professional chess, he received a Bard College Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship in 2010, in

Nwachukwu at WRA literary festival

2011 a Michener Center Fellowship,[5][6] and in 2023, a Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Artist Fellowship.[7] He earned an MFA from the Michener Center, University of Texas at Austin, in 2014.[5] He went on to earn a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University in 2018, with a minor in African Literature.

Career

Nwachukwu is the author of the short story collection, Japa and Other Stories, which won the 2023 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction,[3] and was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize.[4] The book received coverage from The New York Review of Books[8], The Lagos Review[9], Business Day[10], Foreword Reviews[11], FSU News[12], The Sun Nigeria[13], and the Italian Internazionale.[14]

His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, Swamp Pink,  New England Review, The Iowa Review, The Southern Review, Oxford American, AGNI, The Colorado Review, Internazionale, and elsewhere.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

His poetry has appeared in Prism International,[24] Bare Life Review,[25] Forklift Ohio,[26] and other places.

His nonfiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review,[27] Lithub,[28] AGNI,[29] Electric Literature,[30] and other outlets.

He has given readings and participated in panels at SXSW, Harry Ransom Center, WFSU News,[31] Word of South Festival,[32] Internazionale a Ferrara,[33] Zora Neale Hurston Festival.[34] He has been interviewed in Poets & Writers Grants & Awards: The Writing Contest Newsletter,[35] Mississippi Arts Hour Interview,[36] The Rumpus,[37] ZYZZYVA,[38] Michigan State University,[39] Totally Booked Podcast with Zibby.[40]

In 2024, Nwachukwu served as a grant panelist for the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Fellowship. In 2025 he served as a judge for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction,[41] and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.[42]

References

  1. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu | Eastern University". www.eastern.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  2. ↑ "Japa and Other Stories". Georgia Press. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  3. 1 2 Press, U. G. A. (2023-09-18). "Iheoma Nwachukwu wins the 2023 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction". Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  4. 1 2 egalluscio (2025-04-10). "Announcing The 2025 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". PEN America. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  5. 1 2 "Honors – Michener Center for Writers". Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  6. ↑ "Michener Center Spring 2014 Graduation Reading". Texas Today: UT Events & Announcements Calendar. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  7. ↑ "January/February 2023 - Recent Winners". Poets & Writers. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  8. ↑ "November 21, 2024 issue". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  9. ↑ Kan, Toni (2025-04-12). "Iheoma Nwachukwu's 'Japa and Other Stories' Emerges as PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist". The Lagos Review. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  10. ↑ Oyemade, Titilade (2025-03-22). "Dreams, Desperation, and Destiny - A Review of Iheoma Nwachukwu's Japa and Other Stories". Businessday NG. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  11. ↑ "Review of Japa and Other Stories". www.forewordreviews.com. 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  12. ↑ Thomas, Mark Blackwell. "FSU graduate claims Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction | College of Arts and Sciences". artsandsciences.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  13. ↑ Rapheal (2023-09-22). "How Nwachukwu helps Americans to better understand Africa". The Sun Nigeria. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  14. ↑ Sibani, Francesca (2025-04-18). "Storie di migrazione nigeriana nel mondo". Internazionale (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  15. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu". Ploughshares. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  16. ↑ "Number 97 – swamp pink". swamp-pink.charleston.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  17. ↑ "Vol. 45, No. 2 – New England Review". Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  18. ↑ Nwachukwu, Iheoma (1 March 2017). "Train Juju". The Iowa Review. 47 (1). doi:10.17077/0021-065X.31796.
  19. ↑ "The Southern Review - Issue: Spring - 2017". thesouthernreview.org. Archived from the original on 2025-11-10. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  20. ↑ "Issue 124, Spring 2024". Oxford American. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  21. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu". AGNI Online. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  22. ↑ "Colorado Review Spring 2020". Center for Literary Publishing. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  23. ↑ "878 (24 dicembre 2010 / 6 gennaio 2011)". Internazionale (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  24. ↑ "CURRENT ISSUE: Fall 2016 55:1". PRISM international. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  25. ↑ "Good Neighbors Are Hard to Find". The Bare Life Review. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  26. ↑ "Forklift, Ohio - Issue #32 (Spring 2016)". www.forkliftohio.com. Archived from the original on 2026-03-11. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  27. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu | Kenyon Review Author". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  28. ↑ Nwachukwu, Iheoma (2024-09-04). "How Our Diet and Culinary Heritage Informs the Way We Speak". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  29. ↑ "Pandemic Surrealism". AGNI Online. 2022-10-11. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  30. ↑ Nwachukwu, Iheoma (2016-11-29). "Writing and the Game of Kings". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  31. ↑ "Fresh Picked Prose: Iheoma Nwachukwu "Austin Texas"". WFSU News. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  32. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu – Word of South". 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  33. ↑ "Iheoma Nwachukwu Festival Ferrara". Internazionale (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  34. ↑ "Zora Neale Hurston, "Mother of Afrofuturism," at 31st Annual Zora! Festival of Arts & Humanities". 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  35. ↑ "Creative Writing Contests & Grants". Poets & Writers. 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  36. ↑ The Mississippi Arts Hour| Iheoma Nwachukwu | Mississippi Arts Hour. 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2026-06-17 – via msartshour.mpbonline.org.
  37. ↑ "Subscribe to The Rumpus Newsletter". The Rumpus. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  38. ↑ Sheehy, Hugh (2025-02-14). "Yearning at Its Highest Levels: Q&A with Iheoma Nwachukwu". ZYZZYVA. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  39. ↑ "Interview of fiction writer Iheoma Nwachukwu". d.lib.msu.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-09-15. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  40. ↑ "Zibby". zibbymedia.com. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  41. ↑ "Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction". Georgia Press. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  42. ↑ Vollmar, Rob (2025-08-12). "2025 Featured Writers, Artists, and Scholars". Neustadt Prizes. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
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