02/10/2024
Nkem Nwankwo (12 June 1936 – 12 June 2001) was a Nigerian novelist and poet.
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. 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.
He wrote several stories for children that were published in 1963 such as Tales Out of School. He then wrote More Tales out of School in 1965.
Writer of short stories and poems, Nwankwo gained significant attention with his first novel Danda (1964), which was made into a widely performed musical that was entered in the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. During the Nigerian Civil War Nwankwo worked on Biafra's Arts Council. In 1968, in collaboration with Samuel X. Ifekjika, he wrote Biafra: The Making of a Nation. After the civil war, he returned to Lagos and worked on the national newspaper, the Daily Times. His subsequent works included the satire My Mercedes Is Bigger than Yours.
During the 1970s, Nwankwo earned a Master's and Ph.D. at Indiana University. 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.
He died in his sleep in Tennessee, from complications from a heart imbalance that he had been battling for some years.
Source anambranotablepeople