Ben Okri has published 8 novels, including The Famished Road and Starbook, as well as collections of poetry, short stories and essays. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been awarded the OBE as well as numerous international prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction and the Chianti Rufino-Antico Fattore. He is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN and was presented with a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. He was Born March 15, 1959, and was educated both in his native Nigeria and England. He now lives in London.
Awards and honours
- 1987 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region, Best Book) – Incidents at the Shrine
- 1987 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction – The Dream Vendor’s August
- 1988 Guardian Fiction Prize – Stars of the New Curfew (shortlisted)
- 1991 to 1993 Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts Trinity College, Cambridge
- 1991 Booker Prize – The Famished Road
- 1993 Chianti Ruffino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize – The Famished Road
- 1994 Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy) –The Famished Road
- 1995 Crystal Award (World Economic Forum)
- 1997 Honorary Doctorate of Literature, awarded by University of Westminster
- 2000 Premio Palmi (Italy) – Dangerous Love
- 2001 Order of the British Empire (OBE)
- 2002 Honorary Doctorate of Literature, awarded by University of Essex
- 2004 Honorary Doctor of Literature, awarded by University of Exeter
- 2008 International Literary Award Novi Sad (International Novi Sad Literature Festival, Serbia).
- 2009 Honorary Doctorate of Utopia, awarded by University voor het Algemeen Belang, Belgium
- 2010 Honorary Doctorate, awarded by School of Oriental and African Studies
- 2010 Honorary Doctorate of Arts, awarded by the University of Bedfordshire
- 2014 Honorary Fellow, Mansfield College, Oxford
Bibliography
Novels
- Flowers and Shadows (1980)
- The Landscapes Within (1981)
- The Famished Road (1991)
- Songs of Enchantment (1993)
- Astonishing the Gods (1995)
- Dangerous Love (1996)
- Infinite Riches (1998)
- In Arcadia (2002)
- Starbook (2007)
Poetry, essays and short story collections
- Incidents at the Shrine (short stories, 1986)
- Stars of the New Curfew (short stories, 1988)
- An African Elegy (poetry, 1992)
- Birds of Heaven (essays, 1996)
- A Way of Being Free (essays, 1997)
- Mental Fight (poetry, 1999)
- Tales of Freedom (short stories, 2009)
- A Time for New Dreams (essays, 2011)
- Wild (poetry, 2012)
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