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Onyeka Nwelue
Onyeka Nwelue
	Dr. Onyeka Nwelue Portrait
Born	Onyekachukwu George Nwelue; 31 January 1988 (age 36); Ezeoke Nsu, Imo State, Nigeria
Occupation	Novelist; filmmaker; editor; publisher;
Alma mater	University of Nigeria
Period	2000–present

Onyeka Nwelue (listen^ⓘ; born 31 January 1988) is a Nigerian scholar, filmmaker, publisher and jazz musician signed to Amsterdam-based record label, Walboomers Music.^[1] He has published over 35 books, including The Strangers of Braamfontein, described by Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, as "raunchy".^[2]

Nwelue is founder of the James Currey Society, through which he established James Currey Prize for African Literature and the James Currey Fellowship in cooperation with the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.^[3] Nwelue was an Academic Visitor to the University of Oxford^[4] and Visiting Scholar in the University of Cambridge,^[5] but his tenure at both institutions concluded under contentious circumstances in March 2023.^[6]

In 2024, Nwelue threw his hat in the ring to bid for the position of Chancellor, University of Oxford.^[7]

Early life

Nwelue's father, Chukwuemeka Samuel Nwelue (1945–2022), was a politician; his mother Catherine Ona Nwelue was a social scientist.^[8] His aunt, Professor Leslye Obiora, was Nigeria's former Minister of Mines and Steel.

Career

Author

He is the author of 35 books, and in 2024 he was reportedly signed to Katalin Mund Literary Agency, Budapest.^[9]

In 2018, the Association of Nigerian Authors shortlisted The Beginning of Everything Colourful and The Lagos Cuban Jazz Club for their Annual Fiction Prize and Annual Poetry Prize respectively.^[10] In 2021, Nwelue was again shortlisted in both the categories, respectively for The Strangers of Braamfontein and An Angel on the Piano.^[11]

In 2023, his shortlisted Novel The Nigerian Mafia Mumbai won The Association of Nigerian Authors prose fiction prize.^[12]

He was the director of the inaugural edition of the James Currey Literary Festival, which took place at University of Oxford in 2022.^[13]

Director

His documentary House of Nwapa was shortlisted in the Best Documentary category at the 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards.^[14] The next year, Nwelue adapted his novella Island of Happiness into an Igbo film, Agwaetiti Obiụtọ, which was shortlisted in the Best First Feature Film and Best Film in an African Language categories at the 2018 Africa Movie Academy Awards.^[15]

His feature film, The Other Side of History^[16] had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).^[17]^[18]

In 2018, he won the Best Director Prize at the Newark International Film Festival for his film Agwaetiti Obiuto (Island of Happiness), which was shot entirely in Igbo Language and premiered at Harvard University.^[19]