Tochukwu Okafor

Tochukwu Okafor is a Nigerian writer whose work has appeared in the 2018 Best of the Net, the 2019 Best Small FictionsThe Guardian, Harvard’s Transition Magazine, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. He is a 2021 Frank Conley Memorial Scholar, a 2021 Albertina Tholakele Dube Scholar for Young Writers, a 2021 Longleaf Writers Conference BIPOC Scholar, and an alumnus of the 2021 Tin House Workshop. He is also a 2018 Rhodes Scholar finalist, a 2018 Kathy Fish Fellow, and winner of the 2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction. He has been shortlisted for the 2017 Awele Creative Trust Award, the 2016 Problem House Press Short Story Prize, the 2016 Southern Pacific Review Short Story Prize, and has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He was a member of the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Writing Workshop and the 2015 Association of Nigerian Authors Creative Writing Workshop. He holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and has received scholarships and fellowship grants from the Worcester Arts Council, Kundiman, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Etisalat (now 9mobile), the MTN Foundation, Grub Street, Fishtrap, Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, and Exxon Mobil. He lives in Worcester, USA, and is at work on a novel and a story collection. He is on Twitter @toch_okafor and Instagram @tochukwu_okafor.

2021 Writers Program

Sound Clips
  • America, America - Tochukwu Okafor
Recent Posts
Jack Straw Writers SPL Reading on YouTube!

December 2, 2021

If you missed the November group reading with E.J. Koh and our 2021 Jack Straw Writers, our friends at Seattle Public Library have made it available for you to watch whenever you want, right here: Enjoy! And thank you, as always, to our brilliant curator E.J. Koh and the wonderful 2021 Jack Straw Writers.

Read More

EJ Koh holds up a copy of the 2021 Jack Straw Writers Anthology, in a video still.

Categories: Writers Program

The 2021 Jack Straw May Reading Series

April 13, 2021

Join us for three readings featuring the 2021 Jack Straw Writing Fellows, hosted by 2021 Writers Program Curator E. J. Koh. Friday, May 7, 7pm: Abi Pollokoff, C. R. Glasgow, Paulette Perhach, Patrycja Humienik Friday, May 14, 7pm: Kristie Song, S. Erin Batiste, José Luis Montero, Greg November Friday, May 21, 7pm: Tochukwu Okafor, Grace […]

Read More

2021 Jack Straw Writers S. Erin Batiste, C.R. Glasgow, Patrycja Humienik, Grace Jahng Lee, José Luis Montero, Greg November, Tochukwu Okafor, Michael Overa, Paulette Perhach, Abi Pollokoff, Kristie Song, and Daniel Tam-Claiborne.

Categories: Writers Program

View More Posts