Chris Abani

Chris Abani studied at University of Southern California, Imo State University and Birkbeck, University of London. The recorded working language is English and Nigerian Pidgin. Employment is recorded with University of California, Riverside and Northwestern University. Works named in the authority record are GraceLand and Masters of the Board. Work by Chris Abani is recorded in the collections of Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

• Name — Chris Abani • Birth Name — Christopher Abani • Born — 27 December 1966 • Birthplace — Afikpo, Ebonyi State, Nigeria • Occupation — Author, poet, professor • Education — Imo State University Birkbeck College, University of London University of Southern California • Citizenship — Nigerian • Notable Works — *GraceLand (2004) • Becoming Abigail (2006) • The Secret History of Las Vegas (2014) • Website — www.chrisabani.com • Illustration — The poem "Ode to Joy" on a wall in the Dutch city of Leiden

Abani was born in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, located in the southeastern region of Nigeria. His father was Igbo, while his mother was of English descent. Abani published his first novel, Masters of the Board, in 1985 at the age of 16. It was a political thriller, the plot of which was an allegory based on a coup that was carried out in Nigeria just before it was written. He was imprisoned for six months on suspicion of an attempt to overthrow the government. He continued to write after his release from jail, but was imprisoned for one year after the publication of his 1987 novel Sirocco. During this time, he was held at the infamous Kiri Kiri prison, where he was tortured. After he was released from jail this time, he composed several anti-government plays that were performed on the street near government offices for two years. He was imprisoned a third time and was placed on death row. However, his friends had bribed government officials for his release in 1991, and immediately Abani, his mother, and his four siblings moved to the United Kingdom, living there until 1999. He then moved to the United States, where he now lives.

Abani holds a B.A. degree in English and Literary Studies from Imo State University, Nigeria; an M.A. in Gender and Culture from Birkbeck, University of London; an M.A. in English from the University of Southern California; and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. Abani has been awarded a PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2001 Prince Claus Awards, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award. Selections of his poetry appear in the online journal Blackbird. From 2007 to 2012, he was Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. He is currently the Director of the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. He is also a Board of Trustees Professor of English there. His book of poetry, Sanctificum (2010) which was published by Copper Canyon Press, is a sequence of linked poems, bringing together religious ritual, the Igbo language of his Nigerian homeland, and reggae rhythms in a postracial, liturgical love song. Abani's foray into publishing has led to the formation of the Black Goat poetry series, which is an imprint of New York-based Akashic Books. Poets Kwame Dawes, Christina Garcia, Kate Durbin, Karen Harryman, Uche Nduka, Percival Everett, Khadijah Queen and Gabriela Jauregui have all been published by Black Goat. Abani's crime novel The Secret History of Las Vegas won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original in 2015. In the summer of 2016, a broad selection of his works was published in Israel by the small independent publishing house Ra'av under the title Shi'ur Geografia (Hebrew for "Geography Lesson"), edited by Noga Shevach and the poet Eran Tzelgov. The collection received great reviews and offered Hebrew readers a first encounter with the poetry of Abani.