Prof. Udechukwu Obiora

Born in Nigeria in 1946, Obiora Udechukwu is a Painter, Poet, Playwright, and University Professor who has been a strong and consistent name in African Art, Literature and Education for over three decades. During this time he has employed evocative and memorable images, metaphors, wordplay and styles in his engagement of life, and especially those adverse socio-political conditions and events (such as the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970) that affect the populace.

Udechukwu, whose collection of poems, What The Madman Said, won the Association of Nigerian Authors/Cadbury Poetry Prize (1990) and received an Honourable Mention for the Okigbo Prose/Poetry (All Africa) Prize also in 1990, obtained a BA in Art (1972) and an MFA (1977) in Painting from the University of Nigeria.

His poems have appeared in several international literary journals and anthologies, notably, Aka Weta: Egwu Aguluagu, Egwu Edeluede (Igbo Poetry), Eds. Chinua Achebe and Obiora Udechukwu, 1982; Contemporary Textures: Multidimensionality in Nigerian Art, Ed. Nkiru Nzegwu, 1999; African New Voices, Ed. Stewart Brown, 1997; Nigeria Magazine; Omabe; and Okike among others.

Udechukwu is Dana Professor of Fine Arts at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA, and Professor of Fine Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is on the Advisory Board of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, and is a Contributing Editor of Okike: An African Journal of New Writing.

Source: Sentinel poetry