Segun Afolabi is a Nigerian novelist and short story writer, born in
Kaduna
Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nig ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
, in 1966.
He is the son of a career diplomat with his wife. With his family, he moved frequently throughout his childhood, from country to country in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Several critics have remarked on this experience as an obvious influence on his writing.
Afolabi won the 2005
Caine Prize
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...
for the story "Monday Morning", first published in ''
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 ...
'', issue 41, spring 2004. His first novel, ''Goodbye Lucille'', was published in April 2007
Caine Prize website
/ref> and won the Authors' Club First Novel Award The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented.
...
. He was shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2015.
References
Nigerian writers
1966 births
People from Kaduna
Living people
21st-century Nigerian writers
Nigerian male short story writers
Nigerian short story writers
Caine Prize winners
21st-century short story writers
21st-century male writers
{{Nigeria-writer-stub