Ifeoma Okoye

Ijeoma Nwajiaku (The Federal Polytechnic in Oko); Aisha Umar (Federal University Birnin Kebbi)

Ed. by Helen Rachel Cousins, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born c. 1937
Activity c. 1978-ongoing

Places

Born in Nigeria
Active in Nigeria

Activities

Primary

Children's/Young Adult writer
Novelist

Resources

Okoye's Works

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Ifeoma Okoye is a household name on the Nigerian literary scene. Born in 1937 to James and Victoria Okeke, in Anambra State, South Eastern Nigeria, she studied for a BA in English Language at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, graduating in 1977. Her Master’s degree in English for Specific Purpose (ESP) was obtained from Aston University, Birmingham, UK in 1987. She started her teaching career at St. Monica’s College, Ogbunike and continued afterwards at All Saints School, a secondary school in Enugu, until she moved to Enugu to join her husband. Okoye married Mokwugo Okoye, a nationalist and a prolific writer himself. Her husband encouraged her to develop her flair for writing.

She was a teacher at All Saints School when the Nigeria-Biafra civil war broke out in 1967. In an interview

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2291 words

Citation: Nwajiaku, Ijeoma, Aisha Umar. "Ifeoma Okoye". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 January 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14430, accessed 21 November 2024.]