Akwaeke Emezi
2019 Longlist
Akwaeke Emezi is an Igbo and Tamil writer and video artist based in liminal spaces. They are a recipient of the US National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 award for 2018, selected by Carmen Maria Machado. Born in Umuahia and raised in Aba, Nigeria, Emezi holds two degrees, including an MPA from New York University. In 2017, Emezi was awarded a Global Arts Fund grant and a Sozopol Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction. They won the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa, and their writing has been published by Dazed magazine, the Cut, BuzzFeed, Granta Online, Vogue.com and Commonwealth Writers, among others. Freshwater is their debut novel. Emezi identifies as non-binary transgender.
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