Artist Grant, District of Columbia Commission of the Arts and Humanities, 2002; Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Award for Short Fiction, 2003; Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize, 2004; Caine Prize in African Writing nomination, 2004 and 2005; Bread Loaf Writers Conference scholarship, 2004; Key West Writers Seminar scholarship, 2004; Fairbanks International Fellowship to Bread Loaf Writers Conference, 2005; Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best First Book Award in the Africa Region, 2006, for Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe.