Okri, Ben (1959– )

Nigerian novelist, short-story writer, broadcaster, and journalist. He uses magic realism to reflect Nigeria's political turmoil. His novel The Famished Road won the Booker Prize in 1991. Short-story collections include Incidents at the Shrine (1987) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988). His first book of poems, An African Elegy (1992), is based on contemporary Africa. More recent work includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and a collection of essays, A Way of Being (1997).

Okri was born in Lagos and moved to England at 18, publishing his first book Flowers and Shadows in 1980. He wrote his second, The Landscapes Within (1982), while still a student at university in Essex, England. He worked for the BBC World Service as a broadcaster 1984–85 and was poetry editor of West Africa magazine 1980–87.