Education
Habila studied at the University of Jos and at the University of East Anglia where he was a Chevening Scholar and now teaches creative writing at George Mason University, Washington District of Columbia
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Helon Habila
Edit ProfileCareer
He worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before moving to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. In 2002 he published his first novel, Waiting for an Angel. In 2005/2006 he became the Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College, New New York In 2006 he co-edited the British Council anthology New Writing 14.
His second novel, Measuring Time, was published in 2007.
His third novel, Oil on Water, which deals with environmental pollution in the oil-rich Nigerian Delta, was published in the United States in 2011. His anthology The Granta Book of the African Short Story came out September 2011.
Habila is a founding member and currently serves on the advisory board of African Writers Trust, "a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups." 2001 Caine Prize, "Love Poems".
Achievements
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2001 Caine Prize, "Love Poems" 2003 Commonwealth Writers" Prize, Africa category, Waiting for an Angel 2007 Emily Clark Balch Prize (short story), from Virginia Quarterly Review, "The Hotel Malogo" 2008 Virginia Library Foundation Fiction Award, Measuring Time 2011 Commonwealth Writers Prize, shortlist, Oil on Water 2012 Orion Book Award, shortlist, Oil on Water 2012 Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association/Open Book Award, shortlist, Oil on Water 2015 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Fiction) valued at $150,000.
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Born
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Nationality
Nigerian
Education
Awards
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Caine Prize 2001 PEN/Open Book Award; Commonwealth Writers' Prize; Caine Prize
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize was a literary award presented by the Commonwealth Foundation, which awarded prizes for established and new writers across the Commonwealth of Nations.; The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language.; PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing industry.The Commonwealth Writers' Prize was a literary award presented by the Commonwealth Foundation, which awarded prizes for established and new writers across the Commonwealth of Nations.; The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language.; PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing industry.