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Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo (born 1991) is a Nigerian novelist. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
Onuzo received a first-class bachelor's degree in history from King's College London (2012), and went on to earn a master's degree in public policy from University College London. She studied for a PhD at King's College London, researching the West African Students' Union.
She has written for outlets including The Guardian Chibundo Onuzo profile at The Guardian. and NPR, and contributed the short story "Sunita" to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Onuzo's third novel Sankofa was published in the UK by Virago Press in June 2021, and was reviewed by The Guardian as "an accomplished novel that explores difference and belonging with a cool intensity". Brittle Paper described it as "a love story, a political history, and a father-daughter drama". Sankofa was published by Catapult in the US and by Narrative Landscape in Nigeria.
In April 2014 Onuzo was selected for the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature.
In June 2018 Onuzo was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.
At the 2020 American Black Film Festival, the HBO Short Film Competition was won by Dọlápọ̀ Is Fine, for which Onuzo co-wrote the screenplay and which was based on her short story "Sunita".Amanda N'Duka, "American Black Film Festival Unveils ABFF Award Winners For Virtual Edition", Deadline, August 31, 2020.WarnerMedia Entertainment, "The Evolution of Self-Acceptance as a Black Woman", Medium, August 19, 2020. The film, which was directed by Joan Iyiola, has also been longlisted for the Bafta British short film award.
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