Ben Okri

Ben Okri

Ben Okri was born in 1959, Ben Okri has written at least 29 books. Their most popular book is The Famished Road with 35 saves with an average rating of 4.2⭐.

They are best known for writing in the genres Fiction, Fantasy, and Classics.

Author Bio

Poet and novelist Ben Okri was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. He grew up in London before returning to Nigeria with his family in 1968. Much of his early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He left the country when a grant from the Nigerian government enabled him to read Comparative Literature at Essex University in England.

He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).

In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).

Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.

Details
Rating
Readers Count
Controls
The Famished Road
The Famished Road
  • Ben Okri
4.26 reads
The Age of Magic
The Age of Magic
  • Ben Okri
2.673 reads
Starbook
Starbook
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
A Way of Being Free
A Way of Being Free
  • Ben Okri
51 read
The Freedom Artist
The Freedom Artist
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
A Time for New Dreams
A Time for New Dreams
  • Ben Okri
41 read
Skald: The Short Story Collection
Skald: The Short Story Collection
  • Sophie Hannah
  • Ben Okri
  • Martin Edwards
4.52 reads
Astonishing the Gods
Astonishing the Gods
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Songs of Enchantment
Songs of Enchantment
  • Ben Okri
51 read
Mental Fight
Mental Fight
  • Ben Okri
31 read
Infinite Riches
Infinite Riches
  • Ben Okri
21 read
Long Players: Writers on the Albums that Shaped Them
Long Players: Writers on the Albums that Shaped Them
  • Deborah Levy
  • Clive James
  • Patricia Lockwood
  • Lavinia Greenlaw
  • Marlon James
  • Daisy Johnson
  • Eimear McBride
  • Billy Bragg
  • Teju Cole
  • Sandeep Parmar
  • Kate Mossman
  • George Saunders
  • Preti Taneja
  • John Harris
  • Meg Rosoff
  • Sarah Perry
  • Neil Tennant
  • Melissa Harrison
  • Colm Tóibín
  • Bernardine Evaristo
  • Jonathan Coe
  • Will Harris
  • Bonnie Greer
  • David Mitchell
  • Fiona Mozley
  • Esi Edugyan
  • David Hepworth
  • Joe Dunthorne
  • Suzanne Moore
  • Ben Okri
  • Olivia Laing
  • Neel Mukherjee
  • Neil Gaiman
  • Tracey Thorn
  • Musa Okwonga
  • Mark Ellen
  • Linda Grant
  • Jason Cowley
  • Will Self
  • Sabrina Mahfouz
  • John Burnside
  • Lionel Shriver
  • Daljit Nagra
  • Rachel Kushner
  • Ian Rankin
  • Emily Berry
  • Erika Wagner
  • Ali Smith
  • Alan Johnson
  • Sarah Hall
00 reads
Cover 0

Stars of the New Curfew

Stars of the New Curfew
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
The Last Gift of the Master Artists
The Last Gift of the Master Artists
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Freeman's: Potere
Freeman's: Potere
  • Elif Shafak
  • Leïla Sliman
  • Lan Samantha Chang
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Aleksandar Hemon
  • Eula Biss
  • Etgar Keret
  • Nimmi Gowrinathan
  • Tracy K. Smith
  • Aminatta Forna
  • Julia Alvarez
  • Jaime Cortez
  • Nicole Im
  • Barry Lopez
  • Patrick Hilsman
  • Chris Russell
  • Eka Kurniawan
  • Édouard Louis
  • Ben Okri
  • Tahmima Anam
  • Jenni Fagan
  • Josephine Rowe
  • Kanako Nishi
  • David Mitchell
  • Deborah Landau
  • A Yi
  • Damiano Abeni (Translator)
  • Massimiliano Bonatto (Translator)
  • Marina Calvaresi (Translator)
  • Mario A. Galasso (Translator)
  • Umberto Manuini (Translator)
  • Francesca Pellas (Translator)
  • Leonardo Taiuti (Translator)
00 reads
La libertà
La libertà
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Prayer for the Living
Prayer for the Living
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Den skarpsindige lavadelsmann Don Quijote av la Mancha
Den skarpsindige lavadelsmann Don Quijote av la Mancha
  • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
  • Arne Worren (Translator)
00 reads
Every Leaf a Hallelujah
Every Leaf a Hallelujah
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Cover 3

Die hungrige Straße

Die hungrige Straße
  • Ben Okri
  • Uli Wittmann
00 reads
Dangerous Love
Dangerous Love
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
The Magic Lamp: Dreams of Our Age
The Magic Lamp: Dreams of Our Age
  • Ben Okri
01 read
The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories
The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories
  • Ama Ata Aidoo
  • Julia Alvarez
  • Martin Amis
  • Margaret Atwood
  • Russell Banks
  • Julian Barnes
  • Ann Beattie
  • T.C. Boyle
  • Peter Carey
  • Angela Carter
  • Vikram A. Chandra
  • Edwidge Danticat
  • Daniele Del Giudice
  • Junot Díaz
  • Nathan Englander
  • Péter Esterházy
  • Richard Ford
  • Peter Høeg
  • Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Bobbie Ann Mason
  • Ian McEwan
  • Lorrie Moore
  • Murathan Mungan
  • Joyce Carol Oates
  • Ben Okri
  • Amos Oz
  • Salman Rushdie
  • Graham Swift
  • Tobias Wolff
  • Can Xue
31 read
Cover 6

The Comic Destiny

The Comic Destiny
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Freedom Artist
Freedom Artist
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Mental Fight: An Epic Poem
Mental Fight: An Epic Poem
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
Wild
Wild
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
In Arcadia
In Arcadia
  • Ben Okri
00 reads
The Dialogue of the Dogs
The Dialogue of the Dogs
  • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
  • William Rolandson (Translator)
00 reads