Rate My Professor Chris Abani

Chris Abani is the Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University, where he teaches Creative Writing in Fiction and Poetry as well as Literature. He earned a B.A. in English from Imo State University in Nigeria, an M.A. in Gender and Culture from Birkbeck College at the University of London, an M.A. in English, and a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. His academic interests include African Poetics, World Literature, 20th Century British and American Literature, African presences in medieval and Renaissance cultural spaces, the architecture of cities and their symbiotic relationships with populations, West African music, postcolonial and transnational theory, robotics and consciousness, and Yoruba and Igbo philosophy and religion.

An acclaimed novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright, Abani has published prose works such as The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin, 2014), Song for Night (Akashic, 2007), The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), GraceLand (FSG, 2004), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). His poetry collections include Smoking the Bible (Copper Canyon Press, 2022), Sanctificum (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), There Are No Names for Red (Red Hen Press, 2010), Feed Me The Sun: Collected Long Poems (Peepal Tree Press, 2010), Hands Washing Water (Copper Canyon Press, 2006), Dog Woman (Red Hen Press, 2004), Daphne's Lot (Red Hen Press, 2003), and Kalakuta Republic (Saqi, 2001). He has written numerous essays, articles, book reviews, and critical papers on art, poetry, cities, and literature, with his works translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Romanian, Hebrew, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Dutch, Bosnian, and Serbian. Abani serves as Director of the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University and has taught in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. His honors include the PEN/Hemingway Book Prize (2005 for GraceLand), PEN Beyond the Margins Award (2008 for Song for Night), Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction (2009), Edgar Prize from the Mystery Writers of America (2015), Lannan Literary Fellowship (2003), United States Artists Ford Fellowship (2014), and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015).