Olakunle Ologunro Joins List of Nigerian Authors Honoured with Prestigious U.S. Writing Fellowship

Nigerian author Olakunle Ologunro has earned one of the most prestigious creative writing fellowships in the United States — the $57,000 Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Fiction at Colgate University. The highly competitive program selects only two writers each year, and Ologunro will serve as one of the 2025–2026 fellows.

The fellowship supports emerging writers completing their first books, offering a generous stipend, office space, and a vibrant literary community. In exchange, fellows teach one multigenre creative writing workshop per semester and present a public reading of their work.

Only a few Nigerian writers have previously received the honour, including Chinelo Okparanta (2012–2013), Gbenga Adesina (2019–2020), and Ajibola Tolase (2023–2024), making Ologunro’s selection a remarkable continuation of this legacy.

A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University MFA program in Creative Writing, Ologunro earned an honourable mention for his short story “Besties” in the 2024 Benjamin T. Sankey Fellowship. Judge Asali Solomon described his work as “tragic and funny in equal measure, with effortlessly drawn complex and complete characters.”

His career has already attracted major recognition. He has received an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, a Tennessee Williams Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, a Juniper Summer Workshop Scholarship, and a Pushcart Prize nomination. He has also been supported by Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), and Aspen Words, where he was named a 2025 Emerging Writer Fellow in Fiction.

Ologunro’s fiction has been featured in several acclaimed journals and anthologies, including Story Magazine, Lolwe, Queer Africa, Feel Good, and the New England Review, among others. His talent has earned him the Kreative Diadem Prize, as well as finalist spots for the Awele Creative Trust Award, the Gerald Kraak Prize, and the Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship from One Story Magazine. He also reached the longlist for both the 2024 Commonwealth Prize and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship, further establishing him as one of Nigeria’s most promising literary voices.

Ologunro is also an alumnus of the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop facilitated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the EbonyLife Creative Academy (ELCA), where he studied The Art of Screenwriting. His screenwriting credits include popular Africa Magic telenovelas such as Venge, Itura (winner of the 2024 AMVCA Best Scripted Series), and Tinsel, Nigeria’s longest-running TV series.

Congratulations to Olakunle Ologunro — a remarkable storyteller whose next chapter promises even greater literary brilliance.