Talent

0.000

Helon Habila

Biography

Helon Habila Ngalabak, a Nigerian novelist and poet born in November 1967, has received numerous awards, including the Caine Prize in 2001. He initially worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before moving to England in 2002 as a Chevening Scholar at the University of East Anglia. Currently, he teaches creative writing at George Mason University in Washington, D.C. Born in Kaltungo, Gombe State, Nigeria, he studied English Language and Literature at the University of Jos and later worked as a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi. Habila’s literary journey began with winning the Music Society of Nigeria (MUSON) national poetry award in 2000 for his poem “Another Age” and the publication of his short story collection “Prison Stories.” In 2001, he received the Caine Prize for a story from that collection, titled “Love Poems.” His debut novel, “Waiting for an Angel,” was published in 2002 and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Africa Region, Best First Book) the following year. Moving to England in 2002, he became an African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia and later served as the first Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College, NY. He continued his writing and teaching career in the United States as a professor of Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Habila’s literary works include “Measuring Time” (2007), which received critical acclaim and nominations for various awards, and “Oil on Water” (2010), addressing environmental pollution in the Nigerian Delta. His anthology “The Granta Book of the African Short Story” was published in September 2011. He is a founding member and advisory board member of African Writers Trust, a non-profit organization promoting collaboration between African writers in the Diaspora and those on the continent. Habila served as a DAAD Fellow in Berlin, Germany, from July 2013 to June 2014 and chaired the judging panel for the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Literature. Growing up during a period of political dysfunction and military dictatorships in the 1980s, Helon Habila found his voice through writing as a means of protest against injustice and oppression. His passion for crime fiction led to the establishment of Cordite Books, a publishing company focused on filling the gap for entertaining crime fiction in the Nigerian literary market.

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

2000 Music Society of Nigeria (MUSON) national poetry award. 2001 Caine Prize, “Love Poems”. 2003 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Africa category, Waiting for an Angel. 2007 Emily Clark Balch Prize (short story), from Virginia Quarterly Review, “The Hotel Malogo”. 2008 Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction, Measuring Time. 2011 Commonwealth Writers Prize, shortlist, Oil on Water. 2012 Orion Book Award, shortlist, Oil on Water. 2012 PEN/Open Book Award, shortlist, Oil on Water. 2015 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Fiction) valued at $150,000.

Talent

Helon Habila

Biography

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

Interested in this talent?

Our Partner and Supporter