Efemia Chela (born 1991) is a

Zambian Demographic features of the population of Zambia include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and others aspects of the population. Zambia's youthful population cons ...

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

writer,

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, and editor. Her first published story, "Chicken", was shortlisted for the 2014

Caine Prize for African Writing The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named ...

. Chela has had

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

and poems published in ''

New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned by a multi-stakeholder co-operative and run day to day as a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known ...

'', ''

Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari ...

'', ''Token'' and ''Pen Passages: Africa''. In 2016, she co-edited the Short Story Day Africa collection, ''Migrations''. She was also the

Andrew W. Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...

Writer-in-Residence at

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

in 2018. She is currently the Francophone and

Contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dra ...

for ''

The Johannesburg Review of Books ''The Johannesburg Review of Books'' (or ''JRB'') is a South African online magazine based on other literary magazines such as ''The New York Review of Books'' and the ''London Review of Books''. Its bi-monthly issues include reviews, essays, poe ...

''. Born in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, Efemia Chela grew up in England, Ghana, Botswana and South Africa. She graduated with a BA degree in French, Politics, and

Classical civilization Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...

s from Rhodes University in South Africa, and at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, France. Chela's short stories have been published in ', ''Brittle Paper'' and most recently in ''As You Like It'', the 2018 Gerald Kraak Award anthology. Efemia contributed an essay to ''Touch'', a collection of essays edited by Tiffany Mugo and Kim Windvogel.

References

1991 births Living people 21st-century Ghanaian poets 21st-century Ghanaian women writers 21st-century short story writers 21st-century Zambian women writers 21st-century Zambian writers Ghanaian short story writers Ghanaian women poets Ghanaian women short story writers Rhodes University alumni Zambian poets Zambian short story writers Zambian women poets Zambian women short story writers {{Zambia-writer-stub