Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe studied at University of Massachusetts Amherst. The recorded working language is English and Nigerian Pidgin. Chinua Achebe is recorded as an influence. Employment is recorded with Connecticut College. Works named in the authority record are Foreign Gods, Inc., The man lives and Arrows of Rain.

• Name — Okey Ndibe • Born — 1960 • Birthplace — Yola, Nigeria • Occupation — Novelist • Citizenship — Nigerian • Genre — Political fiction • Notable Works — *Arrows of Rain (novel, 2000) • Foreign Gods, Inc. (novel, 2014) • Never Look an American in the Eye (memoir, 2016)

Ndibe worked in Nigeria as a journalist and magazine editor, and came to the United States in 1988 at the invitation of famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. In the United States, Ndibe helped to found African Commentary, a magazine described as "award-winning and widely acclaimed". Ndibe holds both an MFA in writing and a PhD in literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He continued to write for magazines and papers in the United States, winning the 2001 Association of Opinion Page Editors award for best opinion essay in an American newspaper for his piece "Eyes to the Ground: The Perils of the Black Student". Ndibe has worked as a professor at several colleges, including Connecticut College, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Brown University. He is currently the Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Ndibe is an author of short fiction, novels, poetry and political commentary. He is a regular columnist for NEXT, a Nigerian newspaper. He also contributes to many other publications, including The Hartford Courant, The Fabian Society Journal, Black Issues Book Review, BBC Online. He has contributed poetry to An Anthology of New West African Poets. His first novel, entitled Arrows of Rain, was published in 2000. His second novel, Foreign Gods, Incorporated, was published by Soho Press in 2014; it was named one of the best books of the year by such publications as The New York Times, Inquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Mosaic, as well as being included in National Public Radio's list of best books of 2014.