Biography
Damilola Michael Aderibigbe (born 1989) is a Nigerian poet based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at the Center for Writers, University of Southern Mississippi. He is the author of the debut poetry collection How the End First Showed, which won the Brittingham Prize in Poetry. In 2024, Aderibigbe's second poetry collection, 82nd Division, was selected for the National Poetry Series, one of the most prestigious poetry book awards in the United States.
Early Life and Education
Aderibigbe was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He earned his bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Lagos in 2014. He then completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Boston University, where he was a recipient of the Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship. In 2022, he earned a PhD in English and Creative Writing with a minor in Global Black Literature from Florida State University.
Career
Aderibigbe is the author of:
- How the End First Showed (2018), winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, a Florida Book Award, and finalist for both the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry and the Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize.
- 82nd Division (2024), selected for the National Poetry Series.
- In Praise of Our Absent Father, a chapbook in the New Generation African Poets Series by the African Poetry Book Fund.
- My Mothers’ Songs and Other Similar Songs I Learnt, his first full-length manuscript, received a special mention in the 2015 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
His poems have been published in notable literary journals such as:
- African American Review
- Alaska Quarterly Review
- New England Review
- The Hudson Review
- The Nation
- Poetry Review
- Shenandoah
- Prairie Schooner
- Sierra
- Ninth Letter
- and featured on Verse Daily
His work has been praised and reviewed in publications including The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, New York Journal of Books, Bostonia Magazine, Africa in Words, The Journal of Gender Studies, and more.
Fellowships and Residencies
Aderibigbe has received fellowships and residencies from:
- James Merrill House
- Banff Centre for the Arts
- Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center
- Ucross Foundation
- Sewanee Writers’ Conference (Walter E. Dakin Fellowship)
- OMI International Arts Center
- Jentel Foundation
See Also
- African Poetry Book Fund
- National Poetry Series
- Brittingham Prize in Poetry