Nigerian writer features on Oprah’s book club

For a man who was born under a palm tree, in Akwa Ibom, Akpan has travelled far. One of the short stories from the collection, My Parents’ Bedroom was shortlisted for the 2007 Caine Prize in African writing. Akpan was ordained a Jesuit priest in 2003 and got an MFA in creative writing from the […]

For a man who was born under a palm tree, in Akwa Ibom, Akpan has travelled far. One of the short stories from the collection, My Parents’ Bedroom was shortlisted for the 2007 Caine Prize in African writing.

Akpan was ordained a Jesuit priest in 2003 and got an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. His book, Say You’re One of Them, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009 and was finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

In 2007, Akpan taught at a Jesuit college in Harare, Zimbabwe and  currently serves at Christ the King Church, Ilasamaja-Lagos, Nigeria.