Renowned Nigerian author Olakunle Ologunro has been honored with the distinguished Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Fiction at Colgate University, accompanied by a $57,000 award. This coveted fellowship, recognized as one of the top creative writing honors in the United States, selects only two writers annually. Ologunro proudly joins the 2025-2026 cohort as one of this year’s recipients.
The fellowship aims to nurture emerging authors as they finalize their debut books. Recipients benefit from a substantial financial grant, dedicated office space, and immersion in a vibrant academic community during their year-long residency at Colgate. In exchange, fellows contribute by leading a multigenre creative writing workshop each semester and presenting a public reading of their work.
Ologunro follows in the footsteps of a select group of Nigerian writers who have previously earned this fellowship, including Chinelo Okparanta (2012-2013), Gbenga Adesina (2019-2020), and Ajibola Tolase (2023-2024).
He holds an MFA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University, where his short story “Besties” received an honorable mention for the 2024 Benjamin T. Sankey Fellowship. Judge Asali Solomon praised his narrative for its balanced blend of humor and tragedy, alongside richly developed, nuanced characters.
Ologunro’s literary achievements include an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, the Tennessee Williams Scholarship for the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a Juniper Summer Workshop Scholarship. His work has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and supported by prestigious institutions such as the Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Vermont Studio Center, and Aspen Words, where he was named a 2025 Emerging Writer Fellow in Fiction.
His fiction has been published or is forthcoming in outlets like Story Magazine, Lolwe, the Queer Africa anthology, the Feel Good anthology, and the New England Review. He is the inaugural winner of the Kreative Diadem Prize and has been a finalist for awards including the 2017 Awele Creative Trust Award, the Gerald Kraak Award-which recognizes works addressing gender, social justice, and sexuality-and the Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship from One Story Magazine. Additionally, he was longlisted for the 2024 Commonwealth Prize and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.
Ologunro is also an alumnus of the 2016 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, led by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the EbonyLife Creative Academy (ELCA), where he honed his skills in screenwriting. His television writing credits include popular AfricaMagic telenovelas such as Venge, Itura-which won the 2024 AMVCA for Best Scripted Series-and Tinsel, Nigeria’s longest-running TV drama.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Olakunle Ologunro and eagerly anticipate the remarkable stories he will craft during his fellowship tenure!
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