Onyeka Nwelue (; born 31 January 1988) is a is a Nigerian scholar, filmmaker, jazz musician, and publisher whose interdisciplinary work spans literature, cinema, and cultural studies. He has authored over 40 books, including The Strangers of Braamfontein, which won the Crime Fiction Lovers’ Awards and was described by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka as "raunchy." In 2024, Onyeka established the Akachi Ezeigbo Prize for Literature and in 2021, he instituted the James Currey Prize for Literature while the James Currey Fellowship was established at Oxford in 2022. He's appointed the Associate director of African Centre of India
EARLY LIFE Nwelue's father, Chukwuemeka Samuel Nwelue (1945–2022), was a local politician; his mother Catherine Ona Nwelue was a social scientist. His aunt, Professor Leslye Obiora, was Nigeria's former Minister of Mines and Steel.
Career Author He is the author of 40 books, twenty of which have been self-published or published through companies owned by him. 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. In 2021, Nwelue was again shortlisted in both the categories, respectively for The Strangers of Braamfontein and An Angel on the Piano.
Director His documentary House of Nwapa was shortlisted in the Best Documentary category at the 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards. 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. Other Side of History was screened at Toronto International Film festival. While The Nigerian Mafia Mumbai Vied for Film deal at Venice Festival. Onyeka released a new album “Quimbombó” in 2023 which received positive reviews from his fans locally and globally.
BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS 1. The Abyssinian Boy 2. BurnMungo Park (with Ikenna Okeh) 12. The Real Owners of Britain 13. The Spice Bazaar 14. Island of Happiness 15. Lemon Grass 16. Evening Coffee with Arundhati Roy 17. Encounters with the Grey Maverick (with Mitterand Okorie) 18. A Country of Extraordinary Ghosts 19. The Perfect Muslims 20. The Nigerian Mafia: Mumbai 21. The Nigerian Mafia: São Paulo 22. The Nigerian Mafia: Johannesburg 23. The Fifth Night at Diggi Palace 24. The Last Trains Out of Ukraine 25. There’s No Snow in Stockholm 26. The Peace Symphony 27. The Hacienda of Jesus Garcia of Pachuca. 28. The Great Igbo Caste System 29. The Mosquitoes of Manipur 30. Gangster Gangster 31. A Japanese Professor in Accra 32. Romeo & Romero 33. CĂLĂRAȘI 34. How To Speak Punjabi in Brampton 35. Kowloon City 36. The Mysterious Tea Shop in Palakkad 37. The Peace Symphony 38. Voyage of 90 Years with Kongi 39. How Africa Colonized Europe 40. The Book of Davido .
See also List of Nigerian film producers
References External links
Official website