Ben Okri OBE FRSL (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Having spent his early childhood in London, he and his family returned to Nigeria in 1968. He later came back to England, embarking on studies at the University of Essex. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Westminster (1997) and the University of Essex (2002), and was awarded an OBE in 2001.Since he published his first novel, Flowers and Shadows (1980), Okri has risen to an international acclaim, and he is often described as one of Africa's greatest writers.[citation needed] His best known work, The Famished Road, was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize. He has also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, and was given a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Awards
1987 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region, Best Book) - Incidents at the Shrine
1987 Paris Review/Aga Khan Prize for Fiction - Incidents at the Shrine
1988 The Guardian Fiction Prize - Stars of the New Curfew (shortlisted)
1991 Booker Prize for Fiction - The Famished Road
1993 Chianti Ruffino-Antico Fattore International Literary Prize - The Famished Road
1994 Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy) -The Famished Road
1995 Crystal Award (World Economic Forum)
2000 Premio Palmi (Italy) - Dangerous Love
2008 International Literary Award Novi Sad (International Novi Sad Literature Festival, Serbia).
2010 D Lit awarded by School of Oriental and African Studies
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Okri
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