Izunna Okafor

Izunna Okafor Poems

Izunna Okafor Biography

Izunna Okafor is an award-winning Nigerian Novelist, Poet, Journalist, Essayist, Editor, Translator, Publicist, Igbo Language Activist and an Administrator who hails from Ebenator in Nnewi South L.G.A of Anambra State Nigeria. He had his secondary school at Community Secondary School Ebenator. He is graduate from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, where he studied Public Administration. He also holds O.N.D in Public Administration from the same school. A published and best-selling author, Izunna has written globally applauded books. He is the author of: 'Ikem's Adventure' his first book published in Nigeria in 2012, during his secondary school; 'The Curse of A Widow' his second book, published in 2013; 'The Faithful Children' his third book, published in 2014, and received outstanding recognition in the Ezenwa Ohaeto Prize for Young Nigerian Novelists 2015; 'Ajo Enyi, ' his debut Igbo novel and fourth book, published in 2015.  With 'Ajo Enyi', he won the 2015/2016 Nigerian Writers Award/Indigenous Writer of the Year; the 2015 Society of Young Nigerian Writers Award/Pita Nwanna Award for Igbo Literature; and also got shortlisted for The 2015 Young Nigerian Writer of The Year, and the 2017 Nigerian Writers Award. His other books include " African Blood" A Short Story, " Nzúzù M Egbuo M, " Igbo novel, " Educated Illiterate, " and " Teach Me Grammar." He has been published in many anthologies, both nationally and internationally; has thousands of articles/essays as well as poems and short stories published online to his credit. A diglot writer, Izunna writes perfectly in Igbo and English languages, and has published widely in both languages. He has won and been nominated for a plethora of awards which include: The Nigerian Writers Award/Indigenous Writer of The Year 2015/2016 Pita Nwana Prize For Igbo Literature 2015 Society of Young Nigerian Writers Award Nigeria Heritage Icon Award/Young Writer of the Year Federal Republic of Nigeria 2016 Merit Award from The Society of Young Nigerian Writers 2016 Award of Recognition From Students Union Government, Unizik 2017 Nigerian Writers Award/Young Writer of The Year 2015/2016 N.Y.S.C. Essay Competition 2012 SLAM Hero Youth International Award/Innovative Youth of the Year 2016 Anambra Exclusive Youth Choice Award/Youth Writer of the Year 2016 Award of Academic Excellence from The National Association of Public Administration Students 2016 Inspire Award /Outstanding Youth in Academics 2017 NAPAS Academic Icon of The Year 2017 Anambra Campus Award 2017/Campus Writer of The Year 2017 Award of Excellence from The Society of Young Nigerian Writers 2016 Anambra Exclusive Youth Choice Award/Outstanding Youth of the Year 2017 Youth Writer of The Year 2016 NAPAS Essay Competition 2017 Starlett Entertainment Award/Creative Writer of the Year 2016 Young Author Award,2018 Creative Crew Africa/Young Talent of The Year 2018, among others Campus Best Writer 2018/Campus Best Journalist of the Year 2018 Best Secretary General of NAPAS 2018 Young Achievers Award/Best Young Writer of the Year 2019 National Light Staff of the Year 2019. He also has numerous Certificates of Merit, Award, Recognition, the most recent of which include: Certificate of Recognition From The ImpactField Global Initiative 2018 Certificate of Award from the Applex Art and Creative Crew Africa 2018 among others. At the age of 21, Izunna was nominated for The Future Award Africa 2016/African Prize For Education, which is the biggest and most prestigious African Youth Award. He has been published in many literary magazines, websites, and blogs. Aside being a creative writer, Izunna is also an Igbo Language Activist who has played and continued to play great roles in sustaining and promoting the Igbo Language and culture. He preaches and takes the 'gospel' of Igbo language and the need for its sustenance to ever nook and cranny, ranging from schools to churches, Radio/Television Stations, and to other public places, being part if his own contribution and strategic measures to ensure that the Igbo Language does not go extinct as predicted by the UNESCO in 2012. He has also been featured in many radio and television stations across the country on this mission. Some of his debut articles like 'Say No To Igbo Extinction' and 'As?s? Igbo Amaka' among others, have also contributed immensely in this cause and in peaking the clarion call for Igbo Language sustenance. In addition to these, Izunna is also a renowned journalist and columnist currently working with the Anambra Newspaper and Printing Coporation, the publishers of National Light Newspaper, Ka ? D? Taa —which is the only Igbo Language Newspaper in Nigeria —and Sportslight Xtra. He also writes for Igbo Radio which is an online Igbo Language news hub with its headquarter in Canada, as well as freelance for other media/publishing houses, both the online and print media. Izunna is the Coordinator of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers q Anambra State Chapter, as well as the founder/initiator of the " Chinua Achebe Literary Festival, " which is an annual literary event he organizes in memory of Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, under the umbrella of Society of Young Nigerian Writers, Anambra Chapter. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology which is an anthology annually published in honour of Nigerian literary star, Late Prof. Achebe, and which attracts entries and submissions from different countries of the world. The most recent of these anthologies is the " Arrows of Words" which was published in 2019, during the year's edition of the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival. During his undergraduate days, Izunna was part of the editorial team of the FAMASSA Magazine. He is Ambassador of TFA Africa in Nigeria; the ambassador of Read Across Nigeria in Anambra State. An alumnus of Unizik, he is also a former Secretary General of the National Association of Public Administration Students NAPAS, as well as the current National Secretary General of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers. In 2019, Izunna met and discussed literature with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, at a literary evening that climaxed the 2019 Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop, organized by the international literary figure, Adichie.)

The Best Poem Of Izunna Okafor

The Sun

Oh ye the sun
Why have you been stubborn like son
Consistent in gazing at ground
Endlessly waxing around the town
The ground is as though as husk
But you never consider the gross of dust

Why have you always unleashed your anger
Treating your people as though we are stranger
Have you forgotten your mandate to the man on earth
To the extent of being a straw to uproar his thirst

Oh the sun when will you dismount from us
Thy wicked eyes of drought and blocks
Thy hotness of thy eyes is severe to man
And the warmness of thy time has defied the land

You cool a hand with liquor
But beat a man to stupor
Your good works are never rejected
But your hook ones are ever dejected

You dread not the men
And you fear not the rain
Punching out the rays to the cloud
And mulching out the blaze to the crowd

A pregnant woman you spare not
Not even a new baby you spare wrath
You make a giant a lazy man
And rename a Goliath a baby man

Oh the sun when shall ye retreat
And remove thy bricks along the street
The calves of men are now like blades
Crushing the earth as ruin abrades

Our body is now at stake
Just as our colour is now mistake
Your dryness is never to quench the quake
But to bring the earth to thirst and quake

Oh thy sun I beseech thee to leave the earth alone
Your mandate to man is to bring the earth to growth 
And not to bring the earth a groan
verily we appeal thee the sun
Dismount thy host from men and go

© Izunna I. Okafor 2017

Izunna Okafor Comments