Ben Okri, is Nigerian author who uses magic realism to convey the social and political chaos in his country.
'Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer. His Falstaff, for example, is very African in his appetite for life, his largeness of spirit. The characters of Turgenev are ghetto dwellers. Dickens' characters are Nigerians.'
'Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.
Short Biography
Ben Okri, a Nigerian poet and novelist was born in 1959. He grew up in London and Nigeria. His experiences of political violence shaped his early writings.
Some of the positions he has held include:
Poetry editor for West Africa magazine,
Broadcast for the BBC World Service,
Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge,
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature,
Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN,
A member of the board of the Royal National Theatre,
Awards
Awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster and Essex,
Awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction,
Awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy),
Awarded an OBE,
Commonwealth Writers Prize,
Paris Review/Aga Khan Prize for Fiction,
Guardian Fiction Prize (shortlist),
Booker Prize for Fiction,
Chianti Ruffino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize,
