Okechukwu Nzelu

Okechukwu Nzelu is a British-Nigerian writer, poet and lecturer, based in Manchester. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, won a Betty Trask Award in 2019. Nzelu's work explores themes of queerness, identity, grief, belonging, and friendship.

Life and career Nzelu was born in Withington in 1988, and grew up in Bolton and Stockport, in Manchester. He was from a devoutly Christian family, which he has cited as an important part of his world view, although he now no longer describes himself as a believer. He was also a keen musician, playing the piano and flute.

After school, Nzelu went on to read English at Girton College, Cambridge, where he made friends, enjoyed drama and comedy and discovered the work of Zadie Smith, whom he cites as a formative influence.

After graduation, he spent a year working for a law firm, before working for publisher Carcanet Press. Seeking a different set of challenges, Nzelu applied for the Teach First training programme. Of this he says: it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read.

His second novel, Here Again Now, dealing with themes of: "Love in its many forms, the limitations of gender norms, art and addiction", was published by Dialogue Books in March 2022, was shortlisted for the Encore Award. In 2023 he was a judge for the BBC National Short Story Award. In 2024 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He currently lectures in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

Books