Nuzo Onoh

Last updated

Nuzo Onoh (born 22 September 1962) is a Nigerian-British writer. She grew up the third of eight children of the late Chief Mrs Caroline Onoh, a former headteacher. Her father was Chief Dr. C.C Onoh, the wealthy landowner, lawyer, politician, and former governor of Anambra State. [1] She experienced the Biafran war with Nigeria (1967–70) as a child refugee within numerous Biafran villages and towns [2] and at the age of 13, she was the victim of an attempted "exorcism" by a local pastor. Due to this experience, she advocates for greater awareness of ritual child abuse in African communities. [3] On 17 June 2023, Nuzo Onoh became a recipient of the 2022 Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is conferred on "an individual whose work has substantially influenced the horror genre", and "is an acknowledgment of superior achievement in an entire career." [4] Nuzo is the first African and Black-British to win this award. [1]

Contents

Education

Nuzo Onoh attended Queen's School, in Enugu, Nigeria, as well as The Mount School, York, a Quaker boarding school in York, and later, St Andrew's College, [5] [6] [ failed verification ] a sixth form college in Cambridge, England. Onoh holds a law degree and a master's degree in writing from Warwick University. [2]

Writing

Onoh is a pioneer of the African horror subgenre. [7] Onoh's books The Reluctant Dead (2014) and Unhallowed Graves (2015) [8] are collections of ghost stories depicting core Igbo culture, traditions, beliefs and superstitions within a horror context.

She is the author of The Sleepless (2016), Dead Corpse (2017), and A Dance for the Dead (2022). [9] [10] [11] Onoh's work has appeared in magazines, podcasts, and anthologies, including the anthology REVELATIONS: Horror Writers for Climate Action. [12] She has contributed to several award-winning anthologies amongst which are, Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora, winner of the British Fantasy Award for "Best Anthology" in 2021 [13] and Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, winner of the 2023 Locus Award for Best Anthology. [14] She has had work in the science fiction magazine Starburst . [15] [16] She is listed in the reference book 80 Black women in Horror (Sumiko Saulson, 2017) and 160 Black Women in Horror (2023). Her works have been longlisted and shortlisted and have also been included in academic studies, including the Routledge Handbook of African Literature and Follow Me: Religion in Fantasy and Science Fiction. [17] She has appeared on media platforms, discussing her writing and African Horror as a genre. She has written blogs for Female First Magazine and Black Ballad Magazine. [18] [19] [20] Onoh has been mentioned as one of the British horror writers bringing a positive change to how black and minority races are portrayed in mainstream horror fiction. [21]

Onoh has also given talks and lectures, including at the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. [22]

Onoh writes about vengeful African ghosts with unfinished business and has been described by one journalist as the "Queen of African Horror". [23] Her writings have been described as works of "magical realism and horror", exploring the "philosophical positions that define the reality of Africa and Africans in a world that is bent towards Western globalization and the annihilation of African roots in culture." [23] Her writing showcases both the beautiful and horrific in the African, mainly Igbo, culture and includes issues of religious hypocrisy, child abuse, ritual killings, dangerous superstitions, corrupt politicians, evil witchdoctors and the plight of widows in the broader African culture, all within a fictitious horror context. [23] Her book The Sleepless, a ghost story tackling both the ritual abuse of children and the horrors of the Biafran War, has been described as "a genuine powerhouse of horror storytelling" [16] and as a work that "goes beyond magical realism": [23] "What distinguishes her genre as 'African Horror' is the detailed exploration of African beliefs on the mysterious and the spiritual, which reveals a lot about the 'African Self'". [23]

Family

Onoh has two children, Candice Onyeama (writer and film director) [24] and Carmen Jija Gyoh (Fintech Product Designer).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigerian literature</span> Literature of Nigerians

Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members of the African diaspora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Datlow</span> American editor and anthologist (born 1949)

Ellen Datlow is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nnedi Okorafor</span> Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tananarive Due</span> American author and educator

Tananarive Priscilla Due is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel The Living Blood. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a course at UCLA called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic", which focuses on the Jordan Peele film Get Out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria</span> Beauty pageant

The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – is a pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe Nigeria, it was renamed Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria after news publishers Daily Times lost their license to send delegates from rival contest Miss Nigeria to Miss World. Since 2005, the pageant has produced multiple representatives, but the MBGN World recipient is considered the overall winner. Miss Universe Nigeria was reestablished in 2023, breaking away from MBGN and operating as an entirely different pageant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheree Thomas</span> American writer and editor

Sheree Renée Thomas is an American writer, book editor and publisher. In 2020, Thomas was named editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu</span> Nigerian businesswoman and lawyer

Bianca Odinakachukwu Olivia Odumegwu-Ojukwu is a Nigerian politician, diplomat, lawyer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder. The widow of former Biafra president Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, she is a multiple international pageant titleholder, having won Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Miss Africa, and Miss Intercontinental. Formerly a presidential advisor, she was the country's ambassador to Ghana and became Nigeria's Ambassador to Spain in 2012.

Speculative fiction is defined as science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Within those categories exists many other subcategories, for example cyberpunk, magical realism, and psychological horror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Onoh</span> Nigerian politician

Christian Chukuwuma Onoh, popularly known as CC Onoh, was a Nigerian businessman and lawyer who became governor of Anambra State in 1983 at the end of the Nigerian Second Republic. He was also the father-in-law of Emeka Ojukwu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Thomas (author)</span> American author (born 1967)

Richard Thomas is an American author. His focus is on neo-noir, new weird, and speculative fiction, typically including elements of violence, mental instability, breaks in reality, unreliable narrators, and tragedies. His work is rich in setting and sensory details—often called maximalism. His writing has also been called transgressive and grotesque. In recent years, his dark fiction has added more hope, leaning into hopepunk. He was Editor-in-Chief at both Dark House Press (2012-2016) and Gamut Magazine (2017-2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Onyeama</span> Nigerian politician (born 1956)

Geoffrey Jideofor Kwusike Onyeama is a Nigerian diplomat and politician who served as the minister for foreign affairs of Nigeria from November 2015 to May 2023. He was appointed foreign affairs minister in November 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

<i>Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows</i>

Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows is a mystery novel by James Lovegrove. It is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche that involves H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. It is the first book in the Cthulhu Casebooks trilogy. The second novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities, was released in November 2017 and the third, Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils, in November 2018.

Jeannette Ng is a British fantasy writer best known for her 2017 novel Under the Pendulum Sun, for which she won the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018 British Fantasy Awards. For that work, she was also the winner of the 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which, largely due to her acceptance speech, was shortly renamed thereafter to the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. In 2020, she won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work for that acceptance speech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Tanzer</span> American writer

Molly Tanzer is an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction writer. She won the Colorado Book Award for historical fiction, and has been nominated for the Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, and the Wonderland Book Award. She is known for genre-bending fiction that combines horror and fantasy with strong female protagonists, depth of characterization, and realistic interpersonal relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margret Helgadottir</span> Norwegian-Icelandic author and editor (born 1971)

Margret Helgadottir is Norwegian-Icelandic, a four times British Fantasy Award-nominated author and anthology editor, and winner of the Starburst's Brave New Words Award.

Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film and horror fiction that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of nature. Although related to supernatural horror film, folk horror usually focuses on the beliefs and actions of people rather than the supernatural, and often deals with naïve outsiders coming up against these. The British films Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973) and Witchfinder General (1968) are regarded as pioneers of the genre, while the 2019 film Midsommar sparked renewed interest in folk horror. Southeast Asian cinema also commonly features folk horror.

Africanfuturism is a cultural aesthetic and philosophy of science that centers on the fusion of African culture, history, mythology, point of view, with technology based in Africa and not limiting to the diaspora. It was coined by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor in 2019 in a blog post as a single word. Nnedi Okorafor defines Africanfuturism as a sub-category of science fiction that is "directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view..and...does not privilege or center the West," is centered with optimistic "visions in the future," and is written by "people of African descent" while rooted in the African continent. As such its center is African, often does extend upon the continent of Africa, and includes the Black diaspora, including fantasy that is set in the future, making a narrative "more science fiction than fantasy" and typically has mystical elements. It is different from Afrofuturism, which focuses mainly on the African diaspora, particularly the United States. Works of Africanfuturism include science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and magic realism.

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a Nigerian speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher who is the first African-born Black author to win a Nebula Award. He's also received a World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Otherwise Award, and two Nommo Awards along with being a multi-time finalist for a number of other honors including the Hugo Award.

<i>Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora</i> 2020 speculative fiction anthology

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora is a 2020 speculative fiction anthology edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight. It contains thirteen works of short fiction, and a foreword by Tananarive Due. It was first published by Aurelia Leo in 2020.

<i>Africa Risen</i> 2022 speculative fiction anthology

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction is a speculative fiction anthology edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Zelda Knight, and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki featuring 32 original works of fiction. It was published in 2022 by Tor Publishing.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nuzo Onoh to receive lifetime achievement award from 'Oscars' of horror genre". guardian.ng. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 Mcvie, Fiona (11 March 2016). "Here is my interview with Nuzo Onoh". authorsinterviews. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  3. ↑ McCrum, Kirstie (24 June 2016). "Terrifying exorcism of writer accused of being POSSESSED by church pastor". Mirror.
  4. ↑ "Lifetime Achievement Award". www.thebramstokerawards.com. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "St Andrews College | Independent College Cambridge | A Level School" . Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "St. Andrew's College Cambridge - GOV.UK". www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Sam-Duru, Prisca (30 June 2015). "Nigerian-British Nuzo pioneers new literary genre, Horror Books". Vanguard News. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Royce, Eden (11 July 2015). "Unhallowed Graves – Book Review". Hellnotes. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Onoh, Nuzo (31 October 2017). Dead Corpse. Canaan-star publishing, UK. ASIN   1909484873.
  10. ↑ "Ralph Fiennes, Nuzo Onoh, Gilberto Gil; The Arts Hour". BBC. BBC World Service.
  11. ↑ "Dead Corpse by Nuzo Onoh". The Splits. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action' Tells Us How To Accept Being Haunted by the Future". 15 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "2021 British Fantasy Awards Winners". 27 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "2023 Locus Awards Winners". 25 June 2023.
  15. ↑ White, Ian (27 June 2016). "Nuzo Onoh - THE SLEEPLESS". Starburst Magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  16. 1 2 White, Ian (27 June 2016). "THE SLEEPLESS". Starburst Magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  17. ↑ Handbook of African Literature
  18. ↑ "British Pubs Are Off-Limits For Many Older African Women – But Should They Be?". blackballad.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  19. ↑ Onoh, Nuzo (3 October 2017). "6 Beautiful African Death Rituals". Female First. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  20. ↑ Onoh, Nuzo (31 March 2016). "An African Witchdoctor - The Good, The Bad and The Bumbling Idiot!". Female First. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  21. ↑ Sutherland, Doris V. (2 May 2017). "Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Three". Bookmarked. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  22. ↑ "Acclaimed writer Nuzo Onoh comes to Miskatonic London to present: AFRICAN HORROR: SHADES OF SUPERSTITION, April 11th @ the Horse Hospital - Diabolique Magazine". 10 April 2019.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Macheso, Wesley (14 November 2016). "Beyond the Magical and the Horrific: Reading Nuzo Onoh's The Sleepless". AfricanWriter. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  24. ↑ "The British Urban Film Festival awards 2017 winners announced". Maroon News. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.