Ben Okri
Author of The Famished Road
About the Author
Ben Okri, 1959 - Nigerian novelist, Ben Okri was born in Minna. After his birth, his family moved to England so his father could study law. At the age of seven, his family returned to Nigeria and his father practiced in Lagos. His childhood was influenced by the Nigerian civil war. He was show more constantly being withdrawn from schools so most of his education was at home. After failing to be placed in a university, Okri began writing articles on social and political issues. Most of them were not published, but he began writing short stories based on these articles and they began finding their way into women's journals and evening papers. In 1978, he moved back to England where he studied comparative literature at Essex University but was forced to leave without a degree because of a lack of funds. He was a poetry editor of West Africa and worked also for the BBC. At nineteen, he finished his first novel "Flowers and Shadows" and it was published in 1980. The story attacked corruption in newly independent Nigeria and tells of a successful businessman whose jealous relatives make his life difficult. Okri's second novel, "The Landscapes Within" (1981), traces the adventures of a young, poor painter in Lagos. This novel was followed by two collections of short stories, "Incidents at the Shrine" (1986), and "Starts of the New Curfew" (1988). Several of the stories tell of the Biafran War from a child's eyes. The novel "The Famished Road" (1991) tells the story of a character who must choose between the pain of mortality and the land of the spirits. Okri's next novel, "Songs of Enchantment" (1993), continued with the mythical and poetical view of the world. "An African Elegy" (1992), is a collection of poems with classical themes. Okri has won several awards, which include the Booker Prize (1991), the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa (1987), the Paris Review Aga Khan prize for fiction, the Chianti Rufino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize, and the Premio Grinzane Cavour. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Ben Okri
Worlds That Flourish 2 copies
The Multiverse Murder 1 copy
Tussen de stille stenen 1 copy
Zvezdana knjiga 1 copy
Associated Works
The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories (1999) — Contributor — 358 copies, 6 reviews
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 153 copies, 1 review
Lunatics, Lovers and Poets: Twelve Stories after Cervantes and Shakespeare (2016) — Contributor — 36 copies
Ten years of the Caine Prize for African writing : plus J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and Ben Okri (2009) — Introduction; Contributor — 13 copies, 1 review
Skald: The Short Story Collection: 6 Original Crime & Thriller Short Stories (2018) — Contributor — 7 copies
Tenderfoots : a selection of works from the 2000 Caine Prize for African Writing (2001) — Introduction — 6 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Okri, Ben
- Birthdate
- 1959-03-15
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
Nigeria (birth) - Birthplace
- Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
- Places of residence
- Lagos, Nigeria
London, England, UK - Education
- University of Essex
- Occupations
- broadcaster (Radio - BBC World Service)
editor (Poetry - West Africa Magazine)
poet
novelist
writer
author - Organizations
- International PEN (Vice President)
Royal National Theatre - Awards and honors
- Granta's Best of Young British Novelists (1993)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2001)
World Economic Forum Crystal Award (1995) - Agent
- The Marsh Agency
Members
Discussions
AFRICAN NOVEL CHALLENGE JULY 2023 - ACHEBE / OKRI in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (August 2023)
Only know this quote in Name that Book (April 2012)
Reviews
(7.5) This proved another long slog reminiscent of Rushdie’s Midnight Children. Once again, the magical realism took over. His forays into the spirit world were the stuff of nightmares -being pursued by multi headed half human half animal/ serpent bodies…I was much more interested in his portrayal of the horrendous poverty described which was brutal in itself, but there was too much of the magical realism for this reader.
Another Booker Prize off the shelf.
Another Booker Prize off the shelf.
Did not work as an audiobook--I couldn't get into it.
Did not finish (truth be told, barely begun). I have read other African writers who made an impression on me; maybe having the physical book would have helped.
Did not finish (truth be told, barely begun). I have read other African writers who made an impression on me; maybe having the physical book would have helped.
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 48
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 4,660
- Popularity
- #5,411
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 90
- ISBNs
- 260
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 11
This was more difficult than I had anticipated. At first I didn't understand what seemed to me as repetitions of certain themes throughout the book but I latercame to understand that there was a purpose for it.
Ben Okri, through Azaro, the spirit-child, creates wondrous worlds that mesh and blend with reality so that you can't tell where which starts and where the other ends.