Umar Turaki, MFA

Lecturer

Creative Studies, Creative Writing

Office: FIP 322
Email: umar.turaki@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Creative Writing: Fiction, Nonfiction, Novel, Short Story; Film: Screenwriting, Directing, Producing

Courses & Teaching

CRWR 473: Writing and Community Learning; CRWR 475: Preparing for a Career as a Writer; CRWR 310: The Power of Metaphor; CRWR 380: Writing of the Short Story; CRWR 217: Intermediate Workshop in Creative Writing: Fiction; CRWR 160: Introduction to Fiction and Drama

Biography

Umar Turaki is the author of the literary speculative novel, Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold (Little A, 2022), which was named a best book of the year by the Boston Globe, Brittle Paper, and Open Country Magazine. His writing has been nominated for the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and the Short Story Day Africa Prize. His short films have screened at festivals in Africa and North America, notably the Pan African Film Festival, the Durban International Film Festival, the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and the Africa International Film Festival.

Websites

umarturaki.com

Degrees

Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing, University of British Columbia, 2023

Selected Publications & Presentations

Books

Every Drop of Blood is Red, New York: Little A, 2024. 300 pages; Lagos, Nigeria: Masobe Books, 2024.

Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold, New York: Little A, 2022. 240 pages; Lagos, Nigeria: Farafina Books, 2023. 300 pages.

Anthologies

“Father’s Land.” Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian Writers on the Home, Identity, and Culture They Know. eds. Ore Agbaje-Williams and Nancy Adimora. London: The Borough Press, Fall 2021. pp. 19-28.

“Naming.” Migrations: New Short Fiction from Africa. ed. Efemia Chela, Bongani Kona and Helen Moffett. South Africa: Short Story Day Africa, January 2017. pp. 67-76.

“The Shapes of Loss.” Selves: An Afro-Anthology of Creative Nonfiction. eds Uzoma Ihejirika and Emmanuel Dairo. Nigeria: Afroanthology Series, 2018. pp. 34-44.

Selected Grants & Awards

Graduate Dean’s Thesis Fellowship, College of Graduate Studies, UBC Okanagan

Finalist, Best Small Fictions, 2018

Shortlist, Miles Morland Writing Scholarship, 2017

Longlist, Short Story Day Africa Prize, 2016