Onyeka Nwelue

Onyeka Nwelue (born 31 January 1988) is a Nigerian cultural entrepreneur, filmmaker, professor and author who is best known for his novel The Abyssinian Boy, which was published when he was 21 and won the TM Aluko Prize for Fiction, came second at the Ibrahim Tahir Prize for First Book, was nominated for the Future Awards and later won the Prince Claus Ticket Grant.
Nwelue is currently an assistant professor and Visiting Fellow of African Literature and Studies at the English Language Department of the Faculty of Humanities, Manipur University in Imphal, India.

Onyeka Nwelue was born in Ehime Mbano in Imo State, Nigeria to Honourable Sam Nwelue, a politician and Knight of St. Christopher and Lady Catherine Nwelue, a teacher and Lay Reader. When he was 11, he was sent to Mount Olives Seminary in Umuezeala Nsu, where he was meant to become a priest. He left Mount Olives Seminary to continue at Holy Family Secondary School, before running away to Lagos, to pursue his career in writing. He wrote for The Guardian and The Punch.

Nwelue left for Lagos when he was 16 years old to attend the Wole Soyinka Festival, after which he was introduced to the Nobel Laureate. A few years later, Nwelue travelled to India for the 2nd International Writers’ Festival, at the invitation of the India Cultural Association.

He is the fourth of six children to his parents. His mother is cousin to Flora Nwapa, often regarded as the first African female writer to be published internationally, and acclaimed writer Chukwuemeka Ike and Professor Leslye Obiora, former Minister of Mines and Steel.

At the age of 21, Nwelue was the first African to join Sandbox, a global community of young innovators under 30, after which he was followed by Nigerian musician, Bez.

Early in his career, Nwelue wrote for The Guardian Newspaper in Nigeia, a rare opportunity given to him by Jahman Anikulapo, the then Editor of Sunday edition popular known as The Guardian on Sunday.

The Abyssinian Boy

Nwelue began writing his first novel, The Abyssinian Boy, when he was in India. The book partly captures his experiences in India as a black man, and its publication catapulted Nwelue to international fame. It received the 2009 TM Aluko Prize for Fiction, came second at the Ibrahim Tahir Prize for First Book, nominated for the Future Awards and was "Book of the Month" for many magazines. It became a national bestseller and was republished in India and the United States. The book was also a commercial success: Nwelue received more than 2.5 a million naira as an advance.

The Abyssinian Boy received stellar reviews in major Nigerian and Indian newspapers such as ("a Greek tale") and the Hindu ("the Indian ethos are original"), and by the end of the year, Nwelue had spoken at universities and colleges in India, Hong Kong, Kenya, Uganda, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Burnt

His second book is a narrative in verse and has been described by British-Hungarian poet George Szirtes as "breathless". Nwelue toured 25 countries of Europe in 2014, promoting the book, which has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Igbo and Yoruba. Translated by Venezuelan writer Alberto Quero, it was published in Peru, where it had its official launch at the Cusco Book Fair in 2015.

Hip-Hop is Only for Children

Nwelue worked with musicians under La Cave Musik and travelled to different countries to meet different musicians and came up with this controversial book, which details personal encounters with musicians and music promoters. It was released in January 2015 to critical acclaim.

The House of Nwapa

He released a documentary detailing the life of Flora Nwapa, Africa's first female novelist in English.

On his return from India, Nwelue got admitted into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study Sociology & Anthropology. He spent two years and dropped out, to study Scriptwriting at the Asian School of Media Studies in Noida, India, after which he taught Film Directing at Center for Research in Art of Film & TV (CRAFT). He handled the Sandwich Class of the English Language Department of the University of Lagos while working as the editor of FilmAfrique, a primer on African film initiatives, published by Africa Film Academy, curators of the Africa Movie Academy Awards. He was offered a scholarship to study Directing at the Prague Film School in the Czech Republic.

In 2014, he was appointed a Visiting Lecturer of African Studies at the School of Modern Language and Culture, the University of Hong Kong, and later an assistant professor of African Studies at Instituto d'Amicis in Puebla, Mexico.

By January 2015, he was promoted as Visiting Fellow cum assistant professor of African Literature at the University of Manipur in Imphal, north east India.

Since the success of his novel, Nwelue has co-written the film Namaste Naija, directed by Teco Benson and shot in Hyderabad and Lagos. He also co-created a short film, The Beginning of Everything Colourful, with British actor and model Dudley O'Shaughnessy.

In early 2012, Nwelue was signed to the Pontas Agency in Spain.

He founded Blues & Hills Consultancy, which was featured on MTV Meets MTN with Ben Murray Bruce. Nwelue's firm organized the first ever Bayelsa Book & Craft Fair, where he served as the director. He also undertook to edit and publish FilmAfrique, a primer on African cinema, funded by the Africa Film Academy, curators of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).

Under Blues & Hills Consultancy, La Cave Musik was created and situates in Paris and Puebla, to serve as CEO/President.

At 27, Nwelue became the youngest jury member of any film festival, as part of the Woodpecker International Film Festival in India. He went on to later create The Italian-Nigerian Festival of Cultures, curating the Diplomatic Jazz Nights for the diplomatic community in Nigeria.

In August 2016, Nwelue's documentary film on Flora Nwapa, entitled The House of Nwapa, premiered in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Since publishing The Abyssinian Boy in 2009, Nwelue has spent most of his time speaking at different events and festivals and forums. He has courted controversy by describing Chinua Achebe's famous novel Things Fall Apart as the "worst book ever written by an African" and once said of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka: "He writes very bad dialogue."

After being invited to the Man Hong Kong literary festival, Nwelue was denied a visa to Hong Kong, sparking media outcry, the alleged reason being the colour of his skin. The decision was reversed and he got a visa to attend the festival.