Worcester, Massachusetts
Manuscript Seminar with Ayşegül Savaş
I am a Nigerian writer and an electrical engineer, presently based in Worcester, MA. I have a bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering and a master’s degree in Energy Science, Technology and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. My writing has appeared in the 2018 Best of the Net, the 2019 Best Small Fictions, The Guardian, Harvard’s Transition Magazine, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. I am a 2021 Jack Straw Writing Fellow, a 2021 Frank Conley Memorial Scholar, a 2021 Albertina Tholakele Dube Scholar for Young Writers, a 2021 Longleaf Writers Conference BIPOC Scholar and an alumnus of the 2021 Tin House Workshop. I hope to establish friendships and learn more about the craft of fiction during my time at Under the Volcano. I am currently working on a novel and a story collection about the lives of Nigerians in Nigeria and Nigerian-Americans in America, examining themes across sexuality, masculinity, mental health and love. I’m on Twitter @toch_okafor and on Instagram @tochukwu_okafor