34-year-old Onyeka Nwelue became the most influential person in the African literati firmament.
Nwelue is a Nigerian filmmaker, talk show host and author. He is the owner of Abibiman Publishing in the UK, US, Nigeria, South Africa and India. He owns La Cave Musik in Paris, runs alongside a bookshop, Hattus Bookshop in Johannesburg, co-owns Blues & Hills Canada which is a film company in Canada. He also founded the James Currey Society at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, where he serves as an Academic Visitor.
Nwelue who was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies, Ohio University is currently a visiting assistant professor and Visiting Fellow of African Literature and studies in the English Language Department of the Faculty of Humanities, Manipur University in Imphal, India. He was an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg.
He set up the first ever Igbo Language class at the University of Oxford and the Haitian Creole and Studies class.
Nwelue has written and published over 16 books which include novels, a play, poetry collections, a narrative in verse, works of non-fiction, a children’s book, and
anthologies of essays. He has also produced feature films comprising documentaries such as “One About My Dear Aunt”, Flora Nwapa and a biopic about the late Ikemba of Nnewi, “Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.”
His book, “Hip-Hop is Only for Children” won the Creative Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2015 Nigerian Writers’ Awards
Due to his contribution to education, he was given an Honorary Doctorate from Queensland University, Haiti. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, by Universite Queensland in Haiti in 2019.
At the African Studies Centre, Nwelue offered himself for service to his people under the auspices of the James Currey Society with the sole purpose of he bringing a unique fusion of knowledge of the grassroots, cemented in his rich awareness of his culture and history, and the rich insights derived from his travels across cultures, through his pen, in film, and in his travels.
The James Currey Society was founded by Dr Onyeka Nwelue who is a member of The Oxford Union Society, a debating society in the city of Oxford, England.
He adapted his novella, Island of Happiness into an Igbo language film, Agwaetiti Obiuto to which he won Best Feature Film by a Director at 2018 Newark International Film Festival.
He studied Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Directing at Prague Film School in Czech Republic. He attended College of Music in Boston where he studied Business of Music at Berklee. He also studied Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature, under Professor Martin Puchner at Harvard University. In fact, the Onyeka Nwelue Scholarship for outstanding Imo State Economics Student, is named after him.
