Guest of the ilb 2008
Helon Habila was born in Kaltungo in northeastern , in 1967. Upon graduating in English Language and Literature from the University of Jos, he went on to teach at the Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi and in 1999 moved to Lagos, where he wrote for the magazine »Hints« and became literary editor of the newspaper »Vanguard«. He won several top Nigerian literary prizes for short stories and poetry, among them the MUSON Poetry Prize for the poem »Another Age«. That same year he self-published his own book, a collection of short stories entitled »Prison Stories« (2000). One of the tales from the collection, »Love Poems«, won the distinguished Caine Prize for African Literature in 2001, bringing Habila international recognition. The story is that of a journalist who is arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned in the days of Sani Abacha, military dictator of . In his prison cell the protagonist writes poems, which the supervisor at first confiscates before passing them off as his own in the attempt to win over his lover. This episode also forms part of the opening of Habila's first novel, »Waiting for an Angel« (2003). In this reworked version of his earlier work, the protagonist's uncertain destiny provides the starting point for all the interwoven stories, which depict the political and social structure of under the dictatorship from different perspectives. The book was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) and is presently being made into a movie. Habila's most recent novel, »Measuring Time« (2006), turns its attention to rural and covers a time span of one hundred years. The main characters are twin brothers, one of whom remains in their home town as the biographer and historian of the village leader, while the other becomes a soldier in .
Habila was the first African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, from 2002 to 2004 and then the Chinua Achebe Fellow in Global Africana Studies at Bard College, New York, 2005/2006. He was co-editor of the British Council's »New Writing 14« anthology (2006) with Lavinia Greenlaw; he was co-editor of the anthology »Dreams, Miracles and Jazz« (2008) with Kadija George; he is a contributing editor to the »Virginia Quarterly Review«. Currently Habila is with the creative writing faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, .
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