Award-winning, talented writer and novelist, Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo has been elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative last week on 28th June, 2018.
The Royal Society of Literature finally after 200 years since it’s established appointed New Writing Fellows under the age of 40. Onuzo together with seven other African writers which include poets Warsan Shire and Inua Ellams, novelists Sabrina Mahfouz, Nadifa Mohamed and Irenosen Okojie, and playwright Bola Agbaje were elected.
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has been known to celebrate writers in the best in contemporary English language writing in the United Kingdom. The RSL’s 40 Under 40 initiative serves as creative a organization that puts forward a list of names to a panel of RSL fellows to honor the achievements of Britain’s younger writers with the selection of a new generation of fellows. The inclusion of admitting African writers is a new step to uniting writers across the Globe.
Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of ten and less than a decade later, she became the youngest woman ever signed by Faber. Her debut novel, The Spider King’s Daughter written in 2012 was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize as well as the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize. The novel also won her a Betty Trask Award. Her most recent novel, Welcome to Lagos, published in 2017, has been reprinted three times and won her several awards and recognition.