AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: SEFI ATTA

Sefi Atta was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1964 and currently divides her time between the United States, England and Nigeria.

She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England, a Certified Public Accountant in the United States, and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Atta was a juror for the 2010 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and has received several literary awards for her works, including the 2006 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. In 2015, a critical study of her novels and short stories, Writing Contemporary Nigeria: How Sefi Atta Illuminates African Culture and Tradition, was published by Cambria Press. Also a playwright, her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC and her stage plays have been performed and published internationally.

BOOKS BY SEFI ATTA

1. The bead collector

2. A bit of difference

3. Swallow

4. News from home

5. Everything good will come

6. Selected plays

SHORT-STORY COLLECTIONS

2010: News from Home, Interlink Books, ISBN 978-1566568036

CHILDREN'S BOOK

2018: Drama Queen, Mango Books, Nigeria, ISBN 978-978-967-959-1

PLAY COLLECTIONS

2019: Sefi Atta; Selected Plays, Interlink Books, ISBN 978-1623719791

STAGE PLAY PREMIERES

2005: The Engagement, MUSON Centre, Lagos

2011: The Cost of Living, Lagos Heritage Festival, Terra Kulture, Lagos

2011: Hagel auf Zamfara, Theatre Krefeld, Germany

2012: The Naming Ceremony, New World Nigeria, Theatre Royal Stratford East, London

2012: An Ordinary Legacy, The MUSON Festival, MUSON Centre, Lagos

2014: Last Stand, Terra Kulture, Lagos

2018: Renovation, The Jos Festival of Theatre, Jos

2019: The Death Road, The Jos Festival of Theatre

RADIO PLAYS

2002: The Engagement, BBC Radio

2004: Makinwa's Miracle, BBC Radio

2007: A Free Day, BBC Radio

AWARDS

2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa

2006 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa

2006 Caine Prize for African Literature, shortlist

2005 PEN International David TK Wong Prize, 1st Prize

2005 Independent Publishers Book Award, finalist

2004 Commonwealth Short Story Competition, commended

2004 Mississippi Arts Commission Grant

2004 BBC African Performance, 2nd Prize

2004 storySouth's Million Writers Award, finalist

2003 Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award, finalist

2003 Red Hen Press Short Story Award, 1st prize

2003 Commonwealth Short Story Competition, commended

2002 BBC Meridian Short Story Competition, finalist

2002 Fish International Short Story Prize, shortlist

2002 Zoetrope Short Fiction Contest, 3rd Prize

2002 BBC African Performance, 2nd Prize

2002 Macmillan Writers Prize For Africa, shortlist