Websites | Extracts from Novels & Short Stories | Poems
Articles, Essays & Lectures | Interviews | Miscellaneous
Articles, Essays & Lectures | Interviews | Miscellaneous
Books | Articles & Essays | Conference Papers | Student Essays | Entries in Encyclopedias & Reference Works
Dissertations | Study Guides | Bibliographies | Profiles | Reviews | Miscellaneous
Dissertations | Study Guides | Bibliographies | Profiles | Reviews | Miscellaneous
Primary Sources
- Ben Okri: Poet, Novelist, Artist. Ben Okri's website.
- The official MySpace page for Ben Okri
- Ben Okri on Twitter
- 'Ben Okri', Georgina Capel Associates Ltd. The website of Ben Okri's agent.
Extracts from Novels & Short Stories
- 'A Bizarre Courtship', Granta 43: Best of British Novelists 2, 1 March 1993. Republished online by Granta on 3 April 2013.
- 'Prière de vivants' (extract from 'A Prayer from the Living' translated into French), Alfredo Jaar: Dossier pédagogique, n.d.
- 'An Excerpt from In Arcadia by Ben Okri' (2002), The Website of Saul Williams, n.d.
- 'Extract from Starbook by Ben Okri' (2007), Random House (Australia), n.d.
- 'Mysteries', Sunday Times, 5 April 2009.
- 'A Wrinkle in the Realm', New Yorker, 8 February 2021. [online version: 1 February 2021]
Poems
- 'The Awakening Age' (1999), Oxfam, n.d.
- 'Draw' (poem originally in the Evening Standard), BBC, June 2002.
- 'Lines in Potentis' (December 2002), Tate Online, n.d. Commisssioned for the London Assembly/Greater London Authority building, City Hall. Also the poem read by Ben Okri in Trafalgare Square, London, on 14 July 2005.
- 'Children of the Dream', Guardian, 21 August 2003.
- 'Dancing with Change', Ode Magazine 42, April 2007.
- 'Diallo's Testament', National Portrait Gallery, 2013. Video.
- 'A New Dream of Politics', Guardian, 12 October 2015.
- 'Barack Obama: A Celebration in Verse', Guardian, 19 January 2017.
- 'Grenfell Tower, June, 2017', Financial Times, 23 June 2017.
Articles, Essays & Lectures
- 'The Case of Ken Saro-Wiwa' (letter), with Chinua Achebe et al., New York Review of Books, 20 April 1995.
- 'Kinetic Nostalgia on a Graduation', Address delivered at the University of Essex, 7 July 2002.
- 'The New Dark Age', Guardian, 21 April 2003.
- 'Schools of the future', Ode 5 (June 2003).
- 'Our work is to free talent in the project of humanity' (Address to the Europaeum Council), Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 June 2003.
- 'Healing the Africa within us', Ode 16 (September 2004).
- 'The Lost Art of Enchantement: Story Telling and Magic', Bollettino '900 1&2 (June-December 2005).
- 'The Golden Inferno' (with Cynthia Jones), Ode Magazine 40, January-February 2007.
- 'On Why Teenagers Are Poets', Daily Telegraph, 28 September 2008.
- 'Our false oracles have failed. We need a new vision to live by', Times, 30 October 2008.
- 'The Obama phenomenon: a dream can compel people to hold their breath in wonder', Times, 1 November 2008.
- 'America follows its bliss', Times (South Africa), 9 November 2008.
- 'Heritage and Vision', New Black Magazine, 26 November 2008.
- 'Memories of Michael Jackson: Lenny Henry, Robin Gibb, Ben Okri, Mark Ellen', Times, 27 June 2009.
- 'My Family Values', Guardian, 26 June 2010.
- 'Full speech: Ben Okri honours Biko', Cape Times, 13 September 2012. Transcript of the lecture given by Ben Okri in honour of Steve Biko.
- 'The missing girls of Chibok will determine Nigeria's fate', Guardian, 6 June 2014, p. 34. [online version: 5 June 2014]
- 'If I were king for a day my reign would be a walk in the park', Guardian, 7 November 2014.
- 'A mental tyranny is keeping black writers from greatness', Guardian, 27 December 2014.
- 'Can art save the world?', 11.11.11, March 2015. Lecture delivered at the KVS in Brussels on 5 March 2015.
- 'My Perfect Weekend: Reading Quickly Is A Disaster', Telegraph, 7 May 2015. Celebrities share their perfect weekends.
- 'The spirit of Africa's people will transform the continent', Guardian, 7 September 2015.
- 'Under the Sun: A Meditation by Ben Okri on Stories', Irish Times, 4 November 2015. From The Mystery Feast.
- 'The Famished Road was written to give myself reasons to live', Guardian, 15 March 2016. Edited extract from the introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of The Famished Road.
- 'Brexit is Iago's paradise', New Statesman, 30 March 2017.
- 'Ben Okri 2017 Authors' Awards Speech', Society of Authors, n.d.
- 'How to combat the populism that gave us Brexit? Active citizenship', Guardian, 30 January 2018.
- 'Fear of Covid-19 is a mental contagion - and that's something we can fight', Guardian, 26 March 2020.
- '"I can't breathe": Why George Floyd's words reverberate around the world', Guardian, 8 June 2020. Also published in Journal of Transnational American Studies 12.1 (2021), pp. 45-47.
- 'Ben Okri on Why Cornwall Is His Favourite Creative Escape', Condé Nast Traveller, 14 September 2020.
Interviews
- 'Ben Okri', Interview by Edward Blishen, ICA Guardian Conversations, 1988. Video file.
- 'Talking with Ben Okri', Interview by Philip Emeagwali, Emeagwali.com, 19 July 1992.
- 'Mixing It: Novelists Ben Okri and Amy Tan talk to Bel Mooney about their eclectic spirituality', New Internationalist 370 (August 2004).
- 'Beauty in science and literature: Ben Okri talks to neuroscientist Nancy Rothwell FRS about the concept of beauty in science and literature', Royal Society, 14 September 2004. Video file.
- 'Cultural Life: Ben Okri, author', by Charlotte Cripps, Independent, 8 February 2008.
- Ben Okri showcase, chaired by Palash Dav?, LSE, 28 February 2009. Audio file.
- 'One Minute With: Ben Okri', Interview by Henry Brennan, Independent, 17 April 2009.
- 'An afternoon with Sir David Attenborough', Interview conducted by Ben Okri, Guardian, 3 June 2009.
- 'The Forum: Part 2: Nigerian novelist and poet Ben Okri on breaking free', BBC World Service, 19 July 2009. Audio file.
- 'Ben Okri in Conversation with Vanity Fair's Anderson Tepper', PEN American Center, 2010. Video.
- 'Interview: Ben Okri', Granta, 7 April 2011. Online only.
- 'A Time for New Dreams', interview by Claire Armitstead, RSA, 4 April 2011. Audio file & video highlights.
- 'Book Slam Podcast 34 (with Ben Okri, Simon Armitage, Nikesh Shukla, Tanya Auclair, Joe Dunthorne and Philip Wells)', interview with Alex Rayner, Spokenword.org, 5 May 2011. Audio file. Ben Okri section starts at 6:40.
- 'Discovering a love of literature', Interview by Nima Elbagir, African Voices, CNN, 27 June 2011. Video.
- 'A Time for New Dreams', Interview by Nima Elbagir, African Voices, CNN, 27 June 2011. Video.
- 'A very unique writing struggle', Interview by Nima Elbagir, African Voices, CNN, 27 June 2011. Video.
- 'Magical Ben Okri casts a spell on his readers', Interview by Nima Elbagir, African Voices, CNN, 28 June 2011. Video and transcript.
- 'Ben Okri: I always go back to The Odyssey', Telegraph, 21 July 2011. Video.
- 'Got strange sensation of being home in India: Ben Okri', by Archana Khare Ghose, Times of India, 19 January 2012.
- 'Ben Okri says reading is not as innocent as we think', by Anirudh Chaudhary, WSN (Press Agency), 21 January 2012.
- 'Jaipur literary fest: An interview with Ben Okri', by Geetanjali Jhala, Daily Bhaskar, 22 January 2012.
- 'Reality is not in the realism', by Vikram Kapur, Hindu, 28 January 2012.
- 'For me, writing is a quest for freedom: Author Ben Okri', by Geetanjali Jhala, DNA (Press Agency), 29 January 2012.
- 'Ben Okri ? One hat worn many ways', by Adilah Ismail, Sunday Times (Sri Lanka), 12 February 2012.
- 'The Books Interview: Ben Okri', by Sophie Elmhirst, New Statesman 141.5099 (2 April 2012), p. 41. [online version: 29 March 2012]
- 'Painter of Secrets', by Anupama Raju, Frontline (30 November 2012), pp. 105-108.
- 'Professor Cornel West in conversation with Ben Okri on Literature and the Nation', University of Cambridge, 25 June 2013.
- 'In Conversation: Dr Lucy Peltz and Ben Okri', National Portrait Gallery, 2013. About Okri's poem 'Diallo's Testament', a sonnet written as a response to the portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. Video.
- 'Booker Prize Winner Ben Okri: Activating Another Consciousness', 2paragraphs.com, 6 January 2014.
- 'Interview - Ben Okri', Gibraltar Eye (online magazine), 13 February 2014.
- 'Ben Okri on Teju Cole, Binyavanga Wainaina and the State of African Writing', Books Live, 14 May 2014.
- 'Is there magic in writing?', interview with Susan Cahill, Talking Books, Newstalk, 21 July 2014.
- 'I want to look at the big things that exist in the micro-moments: Ben Okri', by Alaka Sahani, Indian Express, 16 November 2014.
- 'Ben Okri on Books and Arts', by Michael Cathcart, ABC Radio, 25 May 2015.
- 'Nigerian Novelist and Poet - Ben Okri', interview by Stephen Sackur, Hardtalk, BBC World Service, 7 January 2016. A video excerpt is also available here; the full video is available only within the UK.
- 'The more accurate a writer's description, the less the reality in his work: Ben Okri', interview by Bishan Samaddar, Scroll.in, 17 January 2016.
- 'Our politicians have failed us more than our writers: Ben Okri', interview by Priyanka Dasgupta, Times of India, 19 January 2016.
- 'Between Worlds', interview by Premankur Biswas, Indian Express, 20 January 2016.
- 'Travelling Life: Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri', interview by Saeed Saeed, National, 21 March 2016.
- 'PM's comments "deeply regrettable", says Ben Okri', ITV, 10 May 2016. Video.
- '"Die Magie des Bewusstseins": ein Gespräch mit Ben Okri', interview by Jess Smee, Kulturaustausch 3 (2019), p. 32.
- 'Ben Okri on fairy tales laced with acid', BBC, 8 September 2017. Short video interview.
- 'Ben Okri: "I began Don Quixote as one person and finished as another", Guardian, 8 March 2019.
- 'These Truths: Ben Okri's The Freedom Artist with Anderson Tepper', PEN, 13 May 2020.
- 'Ben Okri on Perception and Illusion', interview by Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 8 February 2021. [online version: 1 February 2021]
- 'Ben Okri Reads Franz Kafka', WNYC, 1 June 2021.
Miscellaneous
- 'Cultural life: Ben Okri, Novelist', by Charlotte Cripps, Independent, 15 March 2013. Ben Okri selects his favourite books, films, plays and television shows.
- 'Ben Okri, The Famished Road - with annotations', Guardian (online), 18 May 2013.
- N - The Madness of Reason, Inti Films, 2014. Official website for the documentary film scripted by Ben Okri.
Secondary Sources
Articles & Essays
- Abdullah, Sarah, 'Material Survival, Hierarchal Exploitation and Urban Space in Ben Okri's "Converging City"', Language in India 17.7 (July 2017), pp. 396-406.
- Abdullah, Sarah, '"The Young Shall Grow": Violence, Conflict and Coming of Age in Ben Okri's "Laughter beneath the Bridge"', Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics 37 (2017), pp. 1-6.
- Agera, Ate, & Aondona Amough, 'Ben Okri's Literary Works and the Enduring Relevance of Postcolonial Theory in African Literature', Journal of Language and Communication 6.1 (March 2019), pp. 1-10.
- Agofure, Joyce Onoromhenre, 'Natural and Imagined Ecologies: An Ecocritical Study of Helon Habila's Oil on Water and Ben Okri's Stars of the New Curfew', ND?Ñ?DE: Calabar Journal of The Humanities 13 (2018), pp. 249-259.
- Akubuiro, Henry, 'Ben Okri: Blending the Identity and Culture of the Nigerian Writer in The Famished Road', Daily Sun (Nigeria), 3 March 2012.
- Aladaylah, Majed Hamed, 'Making Sense of the "Freedom Scapes" in Ben Okri's In Arcadia', Asian Social Science 9.2 (2013), pp. 305-309.
- Alowonle, Khabyr, 'Foregrounded Syntactic Structures and Deviation as Markers of Freedom: A Stylistic Reading of Ben Okri's Tales of Freedom', Studies in Literature and Language 23.3 (2021), pp. 17-24.
- Anyanwu, Patricia Ngozi, 'Nation, Nationness in The African Novel: A Fanonian Interpretation of Ben Okri's Flowers and Shadows', Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science 5.5 (2017), pp. 19-26.
- Aparna, R., 'Transcending the Borders of the Real and the Unreal in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Literary Endeavour 10 (March 2019),pp. 391-394.
- Asadu, Emmanuela Uzoma, 'Leadership, Human Degradation and Social Change in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', International Journal of Research in Arts and Social Sciences 8.1 (2015), pp. 138-146.
- Awitor, Francis Etsè, 'Portraying a Tragic Hero in Ben Okri's Flowers and Shadows: The Case of Jonan Okwe', AIC 15 (2015), pp. 127-133.
- Awitor, Francis Etsè, '"Could the Subaltern Speak?" Patriarchy and Gender-Based Violence in Ben Okri's Dangerous Love', Journal of Gender, Ethnic and Cross-Cultural Studies 1.1 (January 2022), pp. 40-58.
- Balzer, C. D., 'Mme-dolph and the Question of (Postcolonial) Art', Commonwealth 18.2 (Spring 1996), pp. 13-20.
- Barhoun, Brahim, 'The Carnivalesque in Ben Okri's Magical Realist Abiku Trilogy: Subverting Colonial Discourse', ?y??: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture 1.1 (2019), pp. 37-49.
- Barhoun, Brahim, 'The Carnivalesque in Ben Okri's Magical Realist Abiku Trilogy: Subverting Colonial Discourse', ?y??: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture 1.1 (2019), pp. 37-49.
- Bond, Paul, 'Poet Ben Okri on London's Grenfell Tower fire: "It has revealed the undercurrents of our age"', World Socialist Web Site, 11 September 2017. Short article about Ben Okri's poem 'Grenfell Tower, June, 2017'.
- Brazzelli, Nicoletta, 'Postcolonial Transformations: The Forest in Ben Okri's The Famished Road, Le Simplegadi 15.17 (November 2017), pp. 151-161.
- Carbonieri, Divanize, 'Hibridismo e simultaneidade em The Famished Road de Ben Okri', Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture, 30.1 (2008), pp. 53-62.
- Carbonieri, Divanize, & Adilson Vagner de Oliveira, 'A noção de dispêndio no contexto pós-colonial: uma análise de um conto de Ben Okri', Acta Scientiarum: Language and Culture 41.2 (July-December 2019). On 'The Dream Vendor's August'. In Portuguese.
- Chinedu, Ezekwesili Chinyere, 'Ideology and the Pursuit of Desire in Ben Okri's Starbook', International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 8.3 (2019), pp. 1-4.
- Choudhury, Saradashree, 'Folklore and Society in Transition: A Study of The Palm-Wine Drinkard and The Famished Road', African Journal of History and Culture 6.1 (2015), pp. 3-11.
- Chukwumah, Ignatius, 'The Figure with Recurrent Presence: The Defiant Hero in Nigerian Narratives', Acta Scientiarum 36.1 (January-March 2014), pp. 73-82. Partly deals with The Famished Road.
- Chukwumah, Ignatius, 'The Phenomenon of Exile as a Mutant Strain in Nigerian Narratives', Nsukka Journal of the Humanities 22 (2014), pp. 213-220. Partly deals with The Famished Road.
- Chukwumah, Ignatius, 'From Realism to Fantasy: The Poetics of Setting in Ben Okri's Narratives', Nordic Journal of African Studies 24.1 (2015), pp. 23-44.
- Darie, Daniela-Irina, 'A New Mask for Olorun: The Syncretic Mythopoeia of the African Novel in the 20th Century', Proceedings of the International Conference 'Communication, Context and Interdisciplinarity', vol. 3 (Tîrgu-Mures: "Petru Maior" University Press, 2014), pp. 1192-1203.
- Digvijay, 'Unhistoried Cravings: Corruption of Identity in Ben Okri and Aravind Adiga's Fiction', International Journal of Information Movement, 2.3 (July 2017), pp. 179-182.
- Ernest, Oko Eze, 'Postcolonial Realities in Ben Okri's The Famished Road and Songs of Enchantment, nternational Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature 8.2 (February 2020), pp. 1-7.
- Fox, Alistair Graeme,'In Search of the Postmodern Utopia: Ben Okri's In Arcadia', Portal 2.2 (July 2005).
- Huang, Yihua, & Yanbing Zeng, 'A Study on the Perspectives in The Famished Road', CSCanada: Studies in Literature and Language 19.3 (2019), pp. 69-74.
- Gadoin, Isabelle, 'In Arcadia, de Ben Okri : du topos littéraire à l'énigme du tableau', Polysèmes: Revue d'études intertextuelles et intermédiales 19 (2018), 12 pp.
- Gaines, Kevin K., 'Reflections on Ben Okri, Goenawan Mohamad, and the 2020 Global Uprisings', Journal of Transnational American Studies 12.1 (2021), pp. 9-44.
- Gane, Gillian, 'The Forest and the Road in Novels by Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri', Alternation 14.2 (2007), pp. 40-52.
- Gray, Rosemary, 'Promoting the Poetic Cause in Ben Okri's Stokus from Tales of freedom (2009)', Literator 37.1 (2016).
- Gray, Rosemary, 'Redreaming Ways of Seeing: Ben Okri's Intuitive Creativity', Tydskrif vir letterkunde 55.2 (2018), pp. 73-90.
- Gray, Rosemary, 'Ben Okri's Aphorisms: "Music on the Wings of a Soaring Bird"', Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 7.2 (2018), pp. 17-24.
- Guo, Deyan, 'Trauma and History in Ben Okri's Fiction', Cross-Cultural Communication 8.6 (2012), pp. 34-41.
- Halim, Amira, 'Perceiving Ben Okri's The Famished Road: The Role of Postcolonial Hybridity', Revue Sciences Humaines 32.2 (June 2021), pp. 721-735.
- Hounhouayenou-Toffa, Ernest, 'Defamiliarizing Reality: AS IF and SEEM in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Etudes de stylistique anglaise 11 (2017), pp. 115-129.
- Ikechi, Emeka, 'The Style of Ben Okri in Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches', African Research Review 9.4 (September 2015), pp. 148-156.
- Ikechi, Emeka, 'Stylistic Devices in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', AFRREV IJAH: An International Journal of Arts and Humanities 5.1 (January 2016), pp. 245-253.
- Ikechi, Emeka, 'A Society Under Siege: A Study of Ben Okri's Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches', African Research Review 10.1 (January 2016), pp. 234-242.
- Kamalu, Ikenna, 'Metaphor and the Rhetoric of Postcolonial Politics in Ben Okri's Fiction', CONTEXT: Journal of Social & Cultural Studies, 11.1 (March 2008), pp. 26-46.
- Kehinde, Ayo, 'Rulers Against Writers, Writers Against Rulers: The Failed Promise of the Public Sphere in Postcolonial Nigerian Fiction', Journal of English Studies 8 (2010), pp. 73-102. Also published in Lumina 21.1 (March 2010), Africa Development 35.1&2 (2010), pp. 27-53, and Matatu 39 (2011), pp. 221-251. Contains a section on Ben Okri's The Famished Road.
- Kehinde, Owoeye Durojaiye, 'Norms of Ambivalence in Setting, Plot and Point-of-View in the Anti-Realist World of Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri', International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature 1.6 (November 2012), pp. 210-221.
- Kochupurackal, John Kuriakose, 'Magical Realism in Ben Okri's Novel The Famished Road', Albaha University Journal of Human Sciences 26 (March 2021), pp. 377-389.
- Mahmutovic, Adnan, 'Reality as an Unfinished Project: A Re-review of The Famished Road', Literary Magic Magazine (Spring-Summer 2009). Short essay.
- Mahmutovic, Adnan, 'History as the Road of Existential Struggle in The Famished Road', Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies 1.3&4 (2010), pp. 1-13.
- Mathew, Binny, 'Death and Myth in a Dream Narrative: A Reading of Ben Okri's Novel Songs of Enchantment', Indian Review of World Literature in English 18.1 (January-June 2022), pp. 57-60.
- Monnier, Fanny, 'Travelling The Famished Road of Ben Okri or How to Revolutionize the World by Revolving Inward', Commonwealth: Essays and Studies 42.1 (2019), 11 pp.
- Obobolo, Vincent P.A., 'Postcolonialism as a Reading Strategy: Ben Okri's The Famished Road', AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies 4.2 (May 2015), pp. 45-64.
- Obumselu, Ben, 'Ben Okri's The Famished Road: A Re-evaluation', Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 48.1 (2011), pp. 26-38. Also published in Isidore Diala (ed.), Obumselu on African Literature: The Intellectual Muse (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019), pp. 206-221.
- O'Connor, Maurice, '"A Dangerous Love": Ben Okri's Persisting Commitment to Literary Experimentation', Atlantis 39.1 (2017), pp. 189-204.
- Ogbazi, Ifeyinwa J. & Ijeoma Lena Osita, 'Magic Realism as a Postmodern Device for Postcolonial Criticism: A Study of Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Nigerian Journal of African Studies 3.2 (2021), pp. 84-94.
- Ogunbayo, Sola, 'Mythopoeia of the Female Body in Christopher Okigbo and Ben Okri', Lares: Lagos Reviexw of English Studies 18.1 (April 2018), n.p.
- Okpala, Jude Chudi, 'Deterritorialization, Black British Writers, and the Case of Ben Okri', in Lauri Ramey (ed.), BMa: The Sonia Sanchez Literary Review 6.2 (Spring 2001), pp. 97-113. Also published in R. Victoria Arana and Lauri Ramey (eds.), Black British Writing (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 145-159.
- Osita, Ijeoma Lena, 'A Re-Evaluation of Magical Realism in Ben Okri's The Famished Road and Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow', Journal of the Literati Philosophia 6.2 (2020), pp. 1-14.
- Owoeye, Kehinde Durojaiye, 'Homo Viator Ideals in the Postmodernist Creative Corpus of Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri', Issues in Language and Literary Studies 6.1 (2020), pp. 39-55.
- Pandya, Digvijay & Vijay Anand, 'Search Of Identity: A Thematic Analysis of Ben Okri's Select Novels', European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine 7.7 (2020), pp. 6121-6125.
- Pathange, Monali Sahu & P.V. Amith Kumar, ''Reading the "Hybrid" Mother: Representation of Divinity and Grotesqueness in the Mother Figure of Ben Okri's Abiku Trilogy', Lokaratna 14.2 (2021), pp. 115-134.
- Peeren, Esther, 'The Postcolonial and/as the Spirit World : Theorizing the Ghost in Jacques Derrida, Achille Mbembe and Ben Okri's The Famished Road', in Mélanie Joseph-Vilain, Judith Misrahi-Barak & Gerry Turcotte (eds.), Postcolonial Ghosts / Fantômes postcoloniaux (Montpellier: Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée; coll. Les Carnets du CERPAC 8, 2009), pp. 327-343.
- Peeren, Esther, 'Everyday Ghosts and the Ghostly Everyday in Amos Tutuola, Ben Okri, and Achille Mbembe', in Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture, ed. by María del Pilar Blanco & Esther Peeren (London: Continuuum: 2010), pp. 106-117.
- Powers, Connor, 'Building an African Identity through Magical Realism: Cyclicality in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', North Texas Journal of Undergraduate Research 2.1 (2021), pp. 1-10.
- Rajini, P., 'History as an Inevitable Element in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Language in India 18.11 (November 2018), pp. 98-104.
- Ratau, Nelson S., 'Art and Spirituality in the Covid-19 Epoch: An Exploratory Reading of Ben Okri's Poetry', Pharos Journal of Theology 102, special edition 2 (2021), pp. 1-24.
- Sankar, P., 'The Road Not Taken: Realistic Revelations of Magic Realism in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Journal of The Gujarat Research Society 21.14 (December 2019), pp. 1253-1256.
- Saranya, K., 'A Panorama of Societal Ramifications in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Infokara Research 8.8 (2019), pp. 189-193.
- Saranya, K., & A. Selvalakshmi, 'Blend of Yoruba Culture and Magical Realism: A Recent Prospect in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', Language in India 18.5 (May 2018), pp. 351-357.
- Sharma, Richa, 'Ben Okri's Fiction: A Critique of Postcolonial Discourse', Research Scholar 3.2 (May 2015), pp. 345-349.
- Soniya, K., 'The Significance of the Use of Masquerade in the Select Novels of Ben Okri', Language in India 19.8 (August 2019), pp. 308-315.
- Swann, Leah, 'Ben Okri and the Uses of Enchantment: A Journey towards Self-Knowledge', Meanjin 76.1 (Autumn 2017), pp. 152-158.
- Tunca, Daria, 'Ben Okri's The Landscapes Within and Dangerous Love: Vision and Revision', Bell New Series 2: The Linguistics / Literature Interface (2004), pp. 85-101.
- Wachira, Ibrahim, Mugo Muhia & Kimani Kaigai, '"My-house-without-a-door-an-egg": Reading an African Perspective of the Chronotope in Selected Works of Amos Tutuola, Ben Okri and Alain Mabanckou', Nairobi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 5.1 (2021), pp. 34-50.
Conference Papers
- Jojo Verge, Violetta, 'Ben Okri's Inscription In Arcadia: An Epiphany of Life and Art', paper presented at the conference '"African Renewal, African Renaissance": New Perspectives on Africa’s Past and Africa’s Present', African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific Annual Conference Proceedings, 26-28 November, 2004.
- Ogunbayo, Sola, 'Crystallizing Idyllic Africa: Prophetic Myths in Selected Fiction of Ben Okri', Codesria 13th General Assembly, Rabat, Morocco, 5-9 December 2011.
Student Essays
Entries in Encyclopedias & Reference Works
- Bennett Robert, 'Ben Okri' (biography, major works and themes, critical reception and bibliography), in Puspa Naidu Parekh and Siga Fatima Jagne (eds), Postcolonial African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, (Westport: Greenwood, 1998).
- Obano, Nisha, 'Ben Okri (1959 - )', Encyclopedia of Afropean Studies, 2013.
Dissertations
- Bain, David Victor, '"Aesthetics", Postcolonialism and the Literary Text: A Study in Cultural Differences, with Particular Reference to the Work of Ayi Kwei Armah, Neil Bissoondath, V.S. Naipaul, Ben Okri and Amos Tutuola', PhD dissertation, University of Leeds, UK, 1996, 338 pp.
- Barhoun, Brahim, 'Magical Realism as Postcolonial Discourse: Magic, the Carnivalesque and Hybridity in Ben Okri's Abiku trilogy', PhD dissertation, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, 2013, 357 pp.
- DuBois Bourenane, Heather L., 'Rewriting the Real: Magical Realism and the Fiction of Wilson Harris and Ben Okri', MA thesis, Ohio State University, 2000.
- Irene, Michael Oshoke, ' Re-inventing Oral Tradition in Ben Okri's Trilogy: The Famished Road, Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches', PhD dissertation, Anglia Ruskin University, UK, 106 pp. [followed by a creative writing piece]
- Iyizoba, Nwamaka E., 'Myth in Ben Okri's The Famished Road', BA dissertation, Godfrey Okoye University, Ugwuomu-Nike, Nigeria, 2018.
- Kusnetz, Ilyse Margo, 'The Return of Romantic Irony: Modes of Feminist and Post-colonial Identity in the Work of Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri', PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1999, 310 pp.
- Nkwain Ngam, Roland, 'Ben Okri's The Famished Road: A Case Study in the Translation of New Englishes', MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2004.
- Oed, Anja, 'Antelope (Woman) and Buffalo (Woman): Contemporary Literary Transformations of a Topos in Yoruba Culture', SOAS, University of London, UK, 2002, 281 pp. Partly deals with Okri's trilogy.
- Okajima, Kei, 'Performing Childhood in Diaspora: Palimpsestic Bodies and Agency in Contemporary Black Diasporic Literature', PhD dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA, 2018, 173 pp. Includes a chapter on The Famished Road.
- Plettner, Martha Anne, 'The Postcolonial Liminal Novel in Africa: Farah's Maps, Ben Jelloun's L'enfant de sable and Okri's The Famished Road', MA dissertation, American University in Cairo, Egypt, 2000, 69 pp.
- Sasser, Kim, 'Magically Strategized Belonging: Magical Realism as Cosmopolitan Mapping in Ben Okri, Cristina Garc?a, and Salman Rushdie', PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, UK, 2011. Contains a chapter entitled 'Vernacular Humanism in Ben Okri's The Famished Road' (pp. 57-121).
- Taylor, Laurel, 'Liminality as Identity in Four Novels by Ben Okri and Tahar ben Jelloun', PhD thesis, University of St Andrews, UK, 2001, 171 pp.
- Wachira, Ibrahim Gichingiri, '"Representations of Chronotopic Cycles and Consciousness in Selected Works of Amos Tutuola, Ben Okri, Alain Mabanckou and Mia Couto', PhD thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, 2021, 307 pp.
Study Guides
- 'The Famished Road, by Ben Okri', NoveList, 2010.
- 'Famished Road: Ben Okri', Random House (New Zealand), n.d.
Bibliographies
Profiles
- 'Ben Okri', Contemporary Writers, n.d. Includes a 'Critical Perspective' section by Jules Smith, 2002.
- 'Ben Okri (1959 - )', Pegasos, n.d.
- Chatterjee, Julia, 'Out Of Dark Africa: Ben Okri weaves a tale of inequality in a shrinking world', Outlook India Magazine, 15 May 1996.
- Hattersley, Roy, 'A Man in Two Minds' (Guardian Profile), Guardian, 21 August 1999.
- Dorsman, Robert (trans. Ko Kooman), 'Ben Okri', Poetry International Web, 2000.
- Kamp, Jurriaan, '"Treat life as a workshop to find out who you are"', Ode Magazine 33 (May 2006).
- Köhler, Florian, 'Ein Nigerianischer Schriftsteller in London', Ntama: Journal of African Music and Popular Culture, 24 January 2004. In German.
- Oguntola, Segun, 'Ben Okri: A Rousing Bard', Nigerians in America, 6 March 2005.
- Palmer, Judith, 'Ben Okri: Great art tries to get us to the place of true enchantment', Independent, 7 September 2002, p. 22.
- Pronk, Iris, 'Interview Ben Okri: Ik wil priemende vragen stellen', Trouw, 27 September 2003.
- 'A Writer Honoured', BBC News, 15 June 2001.
- 'Ben Okri (1959 - )', Guardian, 22 July 2002.
- 'Die Biografie von Ben Okri', Afro: Literaturporal Afrikaroman, n.d. In German.
- 'Ben Okri (1959 - ): Portrait', Marabout-Seite, October 2005. In German.
- Jaggi, Maya, 'Free spirit', Guardian, 11 August 2007, p. 12.
- Goring, Rosemary, 'A bringer of light amid the world's darkness', Herald, 25 August 2007, p. 19.
- Naparstek, Ben, 'Prince of the planet', Sydney Morning Herald, 15 September 2007, p. 30.
- Anrys, Stefaan, 'Ben Okri: "Ik ben opgegroeid met jongens die geesten zagen"', MO* Magazine, 24 June 2009. In Dutch.
- Anrys, Stefaan, 'Interview with Booker Prize Laureate Ben Okri: "I grew up with kids seeing spirits"', trans. Matthias Somers, MO* Magazine, 26 August 2009. English version of the Dutch profile listed above.
- Mansfield, Susan, 'Interview: Ben Okri - Booker prize-winning novelist and poet', Scotsman, 8 March 2010.
- Agbedeh, Terh, 'Okri Finds a Time for New Dreams', National Mirror, 20 April 2011.
- 'Corruption biggest threat to Nigeria, Says Okri', by Wasfia Jalali, PTI, 21 January 2012.
- Butalia, Nivriti, 'A brief encounter with Ben Okri', Khaleej Times, 7 March 2013.
- Sengupta, Chiranjib, 'An accurate voice of post-modern Africa', Weekend Review, 21 March 2013.
- Mackley, Elizabeth, 'Quietly quirky, Okri cast his poetic spell', Swindon Advertiser, 15 May 2013.
- Kellaway, Kate, 'Ben Okri: "Are you ready for African food?"', Observer, 20 October 2013, p. 6.
- Butler, Eoin, 'Ben Okri: "We are poised on the edge of a crisis"', Irish Times, 27 June 2014.
- Breathnach, Ronan, 'Is their magic in writing?', Newstalk, 19 July 2014.
- Jewell, Stephen, 'Exploring the dark side of utopia', New Zealand Herald, 9 May 2015.
- Wilson, Madeleine, 'The "magic of moments": Ben Okri on slow reading and his new novel', Conversation, 27 May 2015.
- Yates, Sienna, 'Ben Okri promises an age of magic at NZ Writers' Festival', stuff.co.nz, 10 May 2015.
- Knott, Kylie, 'Novelist Ben Okri on the childhood trauma that drives his creativity', South China Morning Post, 29 July 2015.
- East, Ben, 'Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri: "Reality itself is mysterious in nature"', National, 3 November 2015.
- Chatterjee, Gouri, '"A politics without dreams is arid and barren": Ben Okri at the Kolkata Literary Festival', Firstpost, 17 January 2016.
- Dasgupta, Priyanka, 'India going through amazing literary period: Ben Okri', Times of India, 13 January 2016.
- White, Nadine, 'Ben Okri On The Power Of Fake News During Election Time', Voice, 6 June 2017.
- Armitstead, Claire, 'Ben Okri: "I was nearly shot because I couldn't speak my dad's language"', Guardian, 6 September 2018.
Reviews
Fiction
- Armstrong, Lucy A., 'An Ecstasy of Nightmares', African Writers Trust, 29 January 2014.
- Upchurch, Michael, 'Human, Spirit Worlds Mesh In Okri Novel', Seattle Times, 24 May 1992.
- Upchurch, Michael, 'Page Turners: What To Read When You Want To Relax', Seattle Times, 1 August 1993. Very short review. Scroll down the page.
- Taylor, Paul, 'Dreams of a boy on earth', Independent, 21 March 1993.
- Upchurch, Michael, 'Brave New Worlds: Two Exuberant, Mythic Works From British Colonial Legacy', Seattle Times, 14 November 1992.
- Adams, Tim, 'Grope springs eternal', Observer (Review), 22 September 2002, p. 16.
- Trouw, 13 September 2003. In Dutch. Very short review.
- Ball, Magdalena, Compulsive Reader, n.d.
- Hickling, Alfred, 'Tunnel Vision', Guardian (Review), 12 October 2002, p. 27.
- Robson, David, 'Self-discovery by Eurostar', Sunday Telegraph, 6 October 2002, p. 16.
- Rose, Sean James, 'De l'ironie au lyrisme', Lire, June 2003. In French.
- Tervonen, Taina, 'A la recherche de la Muse et des illusions perdues', Africultures 56 (September 2003). In French.
- Treglown, Jeremy, 'Past glories prove elusive', Spectator, 28 September 2002, p. 68.
- Tynan, Eithne, Sunday Tribune, 17 August 2003. Very short review.
- Adair, Tom, 'Celestial bodies', Scotsman, 18 August 2007, p. 16.
- Barnacle, Hugo, Review of Starbook, Sunday Times, 19 August 2007, Culture p. 47.
- Brown, Ben, 'Some day her prince will come', Observer (Review), 19 August 2007, p. 26.
- Curtis, Vanessa, 'Famished road leads to a philosophical feast', Scotland on Sunday, 19 August 2007, p. 20.
- Flynn, Julia, 'Has Ben Okri lost touch with reality?', Telegraph, 9 September 2007, p. 46. [online version: 13 September 2007]
- Griffiths, Niall, 'A parable the size of a housebrick', Telegraph, 16 August 2007.
- Hildyard, Daisy, 'Mythical tale of the white wind', Yorkshire Post, 31 August 2007.
- Sandys, Elspeth, 'Falling star', New Zealand Listener 211.3525 (1-7 December 2007).
- Serrao, Angelique, 'A sense of self based on stories', Star, 15 November 2007. Scroll down the page
- Tay, Janet, 'Anti-spell for the 21st century', Malaysia Star, 23 September 2007.
- Taylor, Alan, 'The art of creation', Sunday Herald, 19 August 2007.
- Adcock, Fleur, 'Small and curiously formed', Financial Times, 4 April 2009, p. 16. [online version: 6 April 2009]
- Daniel, Lucy, 'Lost in a cloud of mysticism', Daily Telegraph, 2 May 2009, p. 24. [online version: 30 April 2009]
- Deveson, Tom, 'A padded sell', Sunday Times, 26 April 2009, p. 47.
- Parini, Jay, 'Introducing the stoku', review of Tales of Freedom, Guardian (Review), 25 April 2009, p. 11.
The Age of Magic
- 'Swiss mystery in Ben Okri's new novel', Business Standard, 24 November 2014.
- Goldsworthy, Kerryn, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 January 2015.
- Haverty, Anne, 'Giving substance to the abstract', Irish Times, 19 September 2015.
- Khan, Ammara, 'Confronting the Past', Kashmir Monitor, 29 March 2015.
- Larson, Charles R., 'Of Quylphs and Bad Sex', Counterpunch, 29 May 2015.
- McEwen, Todd, 'Devil finds work for idle hands', Sunday Herald (Scotland), 25 October 2014.
- Speirs, Helen, 'Bewitching and rich allegorical tale', Otago Daily Times, 26 January 2015.
The Magic Lamp
- Coughlan, Philipa, NB Magazine, 1 February 2019.
- Khan, Maliha , 'Ben Okri: The writer, the artist', Daily Star (India), 15 December 2017.
- Mbao, Wamuwi, 'Ben Okri demonstrates the value of dreams in a ramshackle world', The Johannesburg Review of Books, 5 February 2018.
- Wagner, Erica, 'The Magic Lamp by Ben Okri - After the Dream', Financial Times, 15 December 2017.
The Freedom Artist
- Publishers Weekly, 12 November 2019.
- Forbes, Malcolm, 'Ben Okri's foray into dystopian themes in The Freedom Artist doesn't disappoint', National News, 25 March 2019.
- Massie, Allan, Scotsman, 6 February 2019.
- Mond, Ian, Locus (February 2020).
- Masad, Ilana, 'The Freedom Artist Is a Perfect Read for a Post-Truth Era', NPR, 8 February 2020.
- Merritt, Stephanie, 'Wake-up call of a world without books', Guardian, 12 February 2019.
- Sasidharan, Keerthik, 'A river runs through it', Hindu, 20 July 2019.
Prayer for the Living
- Kirkus Reviews 88.21,, 1 November 2020.
- Publishers Weekly, 16 November 2020, p. 64. [online version: 30 October 2020].
- Okolo, Babi, 'The Immensity of Brevity: On Ben Okri's Prayer for the Living', Los Angeles Review of Books, 2 February 2021.
Poetry
Stage Plays
Changing Destiny
Miscellaneous
- Gibbons, Fiachra, 'Okri has tough message for Britain', Guardian, 30 January 2003, p. 9. Published online as 'Okri has harsh words for Britain'.
- Twaalfhoven, Anita, 'Mensen en geesten in een Afrikaanse straat', Trouw, 22 September 2003. Article in Dutch about the stage version of The Famished Road.
- Quarmby, Katharine, 'Healing verses', Guardian (G2), 19 April 2005, p. 9.
- Flood, Alison, 'Ben Okri releases new poem on Twitter', Guardian, 25 March 2009.
- 'The triumph that is The Famished Road', Mail & Guardian [online], 13 July 2009. On the stage adaptation of Okri's novel.
- 'Fatwa changed history of The Satanic Verses, says Ben Okri', Hindustan Times, 21 January 2012.
- Alleyne, Richard, 'Ben Okri "disappointment" at editor he claims re-wrote his work', Telegraph, 11 February 2012.
- Flood, Alison, 'Ben Okri erupts at editor over "rewriting" claim', Guardian (online), 13 February 2012.
- 'Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri appointed as Visiting Professor at University of Leicester', University of Leicester, 2 April 2012.
- Allen, Katie, 'Okri made Caine Prize vice-president', Bookseller, 26 April 2012.
- 'Comic Destiny brings a surreal good feeling to Riverside Studios', getwestlondon, 3 September 2012. On the stage adaptation of Okri's story 'The Comic Destiny'.
- Davis, Rebecca, 'Ben Okri at Steve Biko Memorial Lecture: "Freedom was just the overture"', Daily Maverick, 13 September 2012.
- 'National Portrait Gallery Commissions Ben Okri to Write Poems for Portrait of Freed Slave Exhibit', Broadway World, 7 August 2013.
- Peltz, Lucy, 'Discovering Diallo with Ben Okri', National Portrait Gallery, 2 October 2013.
- 'Ben Okri, Honoris Causa, University of Pretoria', press release, 9 April 2014.
- Campbell, Lisa, 'Ben Okri moves to Head of Zeus', Bookseller, 20 May 2014.
- Tran, Mark, 'Ben Okri wins bad sex in fiction award for scene featuring rocket going off', Guardian, 3 December 2014.
- Alberge, Dalya & Mark Brown, 'Actor Janet Suzman criticised for calling theatre "a white invention"', Guardian, 8 December 2014. Includes comments by Ben Okri.
- Samatar, Sofia, 'Black and African writers don't need instructions from Ben Okri', Guardian, 30 December 2014. A response to Ben Okri's article 'A mental tyranny is keeping black writers from greatness'.
- Phepheng, Maruping, 'Ben Okri and the gratuitous quest to stir', News24, 8 January 2015. A response to Ben Okri's article 'A mental tyranny is keeping black writers from greatness'.
- Sosibo, Kwanele, 'Okri's insufficient renaissance', Mail & Guardian, 17 April 2015. About Ben Okri's talk in Pretoria on African Renaissance.
- Newland, Courttia, 'Black authors have freedom of speech but not of subject matter', Evening Standard, 20 April 2015. A response to Ben Okri's article 'A mental tyranny is keeping black writers from greatness'.
- 'Words are magic: Ben Okri', Gulf Today, 6 November 2015. About Ben Okri's participation in the Sharjah International Book Fair.
- 'Twitter Improved My Poetry: Booker Winning Author Ben Okri', New Indian Express, 14 January 2016.
- Roy, Sanjoy, 'New Ben Okri poem accompanies earthy dance', review of Terra by Hubert Essakow, Guardian, 26 February 2016.
- Flood, Alison, 'Jeremy Corbyn to join Ben Okri for discussion of "a new dream of politics"', Guardian, 13 July 2016.
- Bell, Liam Murray, 'What I learned from Ben Okri about creative writing', The Conversation, 17 October 2016.
- Onwuemezi, Natasha, 'HoZ signs new collection from Ben Okri', Bookseller, 28 March 2017.
- Barnes, Andrew, 'Village Underground gets new mural to honour Grenfell victims', Hackney Citizen, 19 July 2017.
- Thompson, Jessie, 'Grenfell Tower mural honours victims with words from powerful Ben Okri poem', Evening Standard, n.d. (July 2017).
- Foroudi, Layli, 'Shoreditch mural honours Grenfell Tower victims', Financial Times, 21 July 2017.
- Langton, James, 'Prize-winning poet Ben Okri pens an ode to Louvre Abu Dhabi', National, 18 October 2017.
- Cowdrey, Katherine, 'Ben Okri to compile anthology of political poetry', Bookseller, 31 October 2017.
- 'After 9 years, Okri releases new poetry collection', Blueprint, 22 January 2021.
- Blistein, Jon, 'Posthumous Tony Allen Album Previewed With "Cosmosis" Featuring Skepta and Ben Okri', Rolling Stone, 12 March 2021.
- Ylanan, Aida, 'Writers describe the vast spaces contained within their short stories', Los Angeles Times, 24 April 2021.
- 'Changing Destiny', Young Vic, 2021.
© 2004-2022 Daria Tunca. Please do not reproduce without permission.
If you use this bibliography for the purpose of academic research,
please kindly cite this website among your sources.
If you use this bibliography for the purpose of academic research,
please kindly cite this website among your sources.
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