Nkem Nwankwo

Nkem Nwankwo // ^ⓘ (12 June 1936 – 12 June 2001) was a Nigerian novelist and poet.^[1]

Biography

Born in Nawfia-Awka, a village near the Igbo city of Onitsha in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria, Nwankwo attended University College in Ibadan (the capital city of Oyo State, southwest Nigeria), gaining a BA in 1962.^[2] After graduating he took a teaching job at Ibadan Grammar School, before going on to write for magazines, including Drum and working for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.^[3]

He wrote several stories for children that were published in 1963 such as Tales Out of School.^[4] He then wrote More Tales out of School in 1965.^[5]

Writer of short stories and poems, Nwankwo gained significant attention with his first novel Danda (1964),^[6] which was made into a widely performed musical that was entered in the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.^[3] During the Nigerian Civil War Nwankwo worked on Biafra's Arts Council.^[7] In 1968, in collaboration with Samuel X. Ifekjika, he wrote Biafra: The Making of a Nation.^[4] After the civil war, he returned to Lagos and worked on the national newspaper, the Daily Times.^[3] His subsequent works included the satire My Mercedes Is Bigger than Yours.^[8]

During the 1970s, Nwankwo earned a Master's and Ph.D. at Indiana University.^[9] He also wrote about corruption in Nigeria. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States and taught at Michigan State University and Tennessee State University.^[10]

He died in his sleep in Tennessee, from complications from a heart imbalance that he had been battling for some years.^[11]

Books

• The Scapegoat — 1984 (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers)^[12]
• My Mercedes Is Bigger than Yours — 1975^[8]
• Danda - 1963 (Lagos: African Universities Press; London: Deutsch, 1964)^[13]
• Tales Out of School (short stories; 1963)^[14]

Short stories

• The Gambler, in: Black Orpheus no. 9^[15]
• His Mother, in: Nigeria Magazine no. 80, March 1964^[16]
• The Man Who Lost in: Nigeria Magazine no. 84, March 1965^[16]

Other

• Sex Has Been Good To Me (reprint of essays), 2004^{[citation needed]}
• Shadow of the Masquerade (autobiography), Nashville, TN: Niger House Publications 1994, pp. 58–61
• A Song for Fela & Other Poems. Nashville, TN: Nigerhouse, 1993^{[citation needed]}
• Theatre reviews in: Nigeria Magazine no. 72, March 1962^{[citation needed]}