ABOUT ME
Chika Onyenezi is a Nigerian-born fiction writer. A recipient of the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award. He finished as a semi-finalist in the inaugural Jesmyn Ward Prize, and a finalist in the 2021 Tupelo Quarterly Prose Open Prize. His short story “Twenty Thousand Cedis” won the 4th Annual Scoundrel Time Editors’ Choice Award in Fiction. He is a semi-finalist in the Boston Review 2020 Aura Estrada Short Story Contest. Also, a 2018 Kimbilio Fellow, and a 2019 writer-in-residence at Craigarden. His short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming in TriQuarterly, Image Journal, Prairie Schooner, J Journal: New Writing on Justice, Chicago Quarterly Review, Ninth Letter, Evergreen Review, and elsewhere. In addition to writing short stories, he has three novels in progress.
I come from Awo-Omamma. My name is Chika Onyenezi, the son of Emeka Onyenezi. Emeka Onyenezi, the son of Okafor Onyenezi. Okafor Onyenezi, brother to Elumara, brother to Anya Diloba, direct descendant of Onyezilaohaonweya. I come from where the river flows East, taking off from Amucha and Ekwe, passing through several towns including Okwudor and Mgbidi before emptying into Oguta Lake. I am a son of the soil.