Harry Sylvester Bird

Chinelo Okparanta was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She was ten years old when her family moved to the United States. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (Bachelors of Science), Rutgers University (Master of Arts), and the Iowa Writers' Workshop (Masters of Fine Arts).

Her short stories have been published in Granta, The New Yorker, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review TriQuarterly, Conjunctions, Subtropics and The Coffin Factory. Her first short story collection, Happiness, Like Water, won the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and was named one of The Guardian's Best African Fiction of 2013. Her essays have appeared in Granta AGNI, The Story Prize blog, and the University of Iowa International Writing Program blog.

Her first novel, Under the Udala Trees, was published in 2015 and won the 2016 Lambda Literary Award in the General Lesbian Fiction category.

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