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Primary Sources

Fiction    |    Poetry    |    Non-Fiction    |    Stage Plays    |    Television Documentaries
Scripts     |    Extracts & Anthologized Work    |    Articles & Essays    |    Interviews
In Translation    |    Audiobooks    |    Miscellaneous

Fiction

Novels
  • Flowers and Shadows (Harlow: Longman, 1980).
  • The Landscapes Within (Harlow: Longman, 1981).
  • The Famished Road (London: Jonathan Cape, 1991; London: Vintage, 1992).
  • Songs of Enchantment (London: Jonathan Cape, 1993; London: Vintage, 1994).
  • Astonishing the Gods (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1995; London: Phoenix House, 1995).
  • Dangerous Love (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson: 1996; London: Phoenix House, 1996).
  • Infinite Riches (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1998; London: Phoenix House, 1998).
  • In Arcadia (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2002; London: Phoenix House, 2003).
  • Starbook (London: Rider & Co, 2007).
  • The Age of Magic (London: Head of Zeus, 2014).
  • The Freedom Artist (London: Head of Zeus, 2019; New York: Akashic, 2020).

 

Collections of Short Stories
  • Incidents at the Shrine (London: Heinemann, 1986; Boston: Faber & Faber, 1987; London: Vintage, 1993).
  • Stars of the New Curfew (London: Secker & Warburg, 1988; London: Penguin, 1988; London: Vintage, 1999).
  • Tales of Freedom (London: Rider & Co, 2009).
  • The Magic Lamp: Dreams of Our Age, in collaboration with painter Rosemary Clunie (London: Head of Zeus, 2017).
  • Prayer for the Living (London: Head of Zeus, 2019; New York: Akashic, 2020).

 

Other Short Stories
  • 'In Another Country', West Africa, 20 April 1981, pp. 873-875.
  • 'Fires Next Time Are Always Small Enough', West Africa, 25 April 1983, pp. 1020-1021.
  • 'The Dream-Vendor's August', Paris Review 105 (Winter 1987). Also published in the collection Incidents at the Shrine, and in The Paris Review Book of People with Problems (New York: Picador, 2005).
  • 'Disparities', Literary Review (Fall 1990), pp. 78-87. Also published in the collection Incidents at the Shrine.
  • 'Incidents at the Shrine', Grand Street 41 (1992), pp. 10-23. Also published in the collection Incidents at the Shrine.
  • 'A Bizarre Courtship', Granta 43: Best of British Novelists 2, 1 March 1993.
  • 'A Prayer from the Living', New York Times, 29 January 1993, p. A27; Guardian, 11 September 1993, p. 6; Toronto Star, 27 February 1994, p. C1. Also published in Alfredo Jaar, Let There By Light: The Rwanda Project 1994-1998 (Barcelona: ACTAR, 1998). See also anthologized work.
  • 'The Black Russian', in Nick McDowell (ed.), Diaspora City: The London New Writing Anthology (London: Arcadia Books, 2003), pp. 211-214. Later published in Okri's Tales of Freedom (2009).
  • 'The Racial Colourist', Cultural Breakthrough Exhibition, 2003. Also published in Parkett 73 (2005), pp. 32-39. Later published in Okri's Tales of Freedom (2009).
  • 'The Mysterious Anxiety of Them and Us: An Allegory of History', Global Agenda, 2005. Later published in Okri's Tales of Freedom (2009). Also published as 'The Mysterious Anxiety of Them and Us: A Stoku', in Elaine Chiew (ed.), Cooked Up: Food Fiction from Around the World (Oxford: New Internationalist, 2015), pp. 9-10.
  • 'In the Land of Beginnings', PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers 6, issue on Metamorphoses (2005).
  • 'The Golden Inferno' (with Cynthia Jones), Ode Magazine 40, January-February 2007. Later published in Okri's Tales of Freedom (2009).
  • 'Mysteries', Sunday Times, 5 April 2009, pp. 62-63, 65.
  • 'Canopy: A Stoku', 'Ancient Ties of Karma: A Stoku', & 'A Sinister Perfection', Callaloo 38.5 (Autumn 2015), pp. 1027-1028, 1030-1031 & 1032-1033.
  • 'Poet by the Sea', Resurgence & Ecologist 309, July-August 2018, p. 35.
  • 'A Wrinkle in the Realm', New Yorker, 8 February 2021.

 

Fairy Tale
  • Every Leaf a Hallelujah, illustrated by Diana Ejaita (London: Head of Zeus, 2021; New York: Other Press, 2022).

 

Poetry

Collections of Poems
  • An African Elegy (London: Jonathan Cape, 1992; London: Vintage, 1997).
  • Mental Fight (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1999; London: Phoenix House, 1999; revised edition, London: Head of Zeus, forthcoming in 2021).
  • Wild (London: Rider & Co, 2012).
  • A Fire in My Head (London: Head of Zeus, 2021).
Edited Collections of Poems
  • Rise like Lions: Poetry for the Many (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2018).

 

Poems in Journals, Newspapers & Books
  • 'I came on stage', West Africa, 29 July 1980, p. 1391.
  • 'For Julie', West Africa, 9 November 1981, p. 2654.
  • 'Newton Enigmas', Times (Saturday Review), 4 July 1992, p. 41.
  • 'A Song for Rwanda', Independent, 1 October 1994, p. 29.
  • 'On Klee', Guardian, 16 September 1995, p. 29.
  • 'For Ken Saro-Wiwa', Guardian, 21 October 1995, p. 31.
  • 'Ode to a Street Cat: For Humphrey', Evening Standard, 18 December 1997, p. 51. Also published in Guardian, 19 December 1997, p. 4, along with a short feature by Sarah Hall, '"Cool cat" Humphrey immortalised: Ben Okri laments the departure of "a spy in the seat of power"'.
  • 'Ode to a Dome', Times, 7 January 1998.
  • 'On the Eve', Guardian, 19 February 1998, p. 18.
  • 'Wake up world', Times, 2 January 1999.
  • 'Soul of the Nation', Guardian, 20 January 1999, p. 2.
  • 'The Awakening Age', Times, 8 May 1999.
  • Extract from 'The Taliban', Evening Standard, 10 October 2001.
  • 'The New Front Line', Evening Standard, 22 October 2001, p. 12.
  • 'The Meaning of a Death', Evening Standard, 4 April 2002.
  • 'The Sign', Independent on Sunday, 2 June 2002, p. 10. Also published in McNeil Gil and Sarah Brown (eds.), Magic: New Stories (London: Bloomsbury, 2002).
  • 'About the Game', Evening Standard, 11 June 2002.
  • 'The Ruin and the Forest', London Magazine (June-July 2002).
  • Opening stanzas of 'For The Memorial Gates', Times, 7 September 2002, p. 11.
  • 'Lines in Potentis', December 2002. Commisssioned for the London Assembly/Greater London Authority building, City Hall.
  • 'Prophecy', Evening Standard, 17 January 2003.
  • 'Children of the Dream: For Martin Luther King', Guardian, 21 August 2003, p. 4.
  • 'Simplify', Evening Standard, 20 October 2003, p. 10.
  • 'The Aftermath', London Magazine (August-September 2004).
  • 'Dancing with Change', Ode Magazine 42, April 2007.
  • 'Migration' & 'More Fishes Than Stars', Tin House 49 (Fall 2011), pp. 46-49.
  • 'Diallo's Testament', National Portrait Gallery, 2013.
  • 'A New Dream of Politics', Guardian, 12 October 2015.
  • 'Slept Badly: A Love Poem', 'Reveal', 'Awake the Stone', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), pp. 1024-25, 1026 & 1029.
  • Poem commissioned for Terra by choreographer Hubert Essakow, Print Room at the Coronet, London, February-March 2016.
  • 'Barack Obama: A Celebration in Verse', Guardian, 19 January 2017.
  • 'Grenfell Tower, June, 2017', Financial Times, 23 June 2017.
  • 'From "The Unknown Hour": Brexit and Our Times', New Statesman, 8 December 2017 - 4 January 2018, p. 29.
  • 'The World Is Rich', Resurgence & Ecologist 301, March-April 2017, p. 25.

 

Non-fiction
  • Birds of Heaven (London: Phoenix House, 1996).
  • A Way of Being Free (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson: 1997; London: Phoenix House, 1997).
  • A Time for New Dreams (London: Rider & Co: 2011).
  • The Mystery Feast: Thoughts on Storytelling (West Hoathly: Clairview, 2015). (Not strictly non-fiction: includes a poem, notes and a stoku.)

 

Stage Plays

  • In Exilus, The Studio, Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, 2001.
  • Changing Destiny, dir. Kwame Kwei-Armah, Young Vic, 2021 (London: Methuen, 2021).

 

Television Documentaries

  • Great Railway Journeys: London to Arcadia (BBC, 9 October 1996).

 

Scripts

  • N - The Madness of Reason, documentary film, directed by Peter Krüger (Inti Films, 2014).

 

Extracts & Anthologized Work
  • 'The Fact That Human Beings Talked, Laughed, Wept, Sweated, Sang', selections from The Famished Road (San Francisco: Kepler's Books & Okeanos Press, 1991).
  • Extract from Infinite Riches, Grand Street, (1992), pp. 10-23.
  • 'Converging City', in Chinua Achebe and C.L. Innes, The Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (London: Heinemann, 1992), pp. 134-145.
  • 'Incidents at the Shrine', in John Thieme (ed.), Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literatures (London: Arnold, 1996), pp. 52-60. Also published in Chris Brazier (ed.), Ten Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing (Oxford : New Internationalist, 2009).
  • Extract from 'The Famished Road', in Robert L. Ross (ed.), Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction in English: An Anthology (New York: Garland, 1999), pp. 231-240.
  • 'In the Shadow of War', in William Smalzer and Phyllis L. Lim (eds.), Acoss Cultures: Universal Themes in Literature (Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1993). Also published in John Loughery (ed.), Into the Widening World: International Coming-of-age Stories (New York: Persea Books, 1995); in Alberto Manguel (ed.), Fathers and Sons: An Anthology (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998); in Daniel Halpern (ed.), The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999), pp. 477-480; and in Faith Adiele and Mary Frosch (eds.), Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology (New York: New Press, 2007).
  • 'Lament of the Images', Lament of the Images, Exhibition Catalogue (Cambridge : MIT List Visual Arts Center, 1999).
  • 'Laughter beneath the Bridge', in Onyekachi Wambu (ed.), Empire Windrush: Fifty Years of Writing about Black Britain (London: Victor Gollancz, 1999), pp. 265-280. Also published in Onyekachi Wambu (ed.), Hurricane Hits England: An Anthology of Writing about Black Britain (London: Continuum, 2000).
  • 'A Prayer from the Living', in Stephen Gray (ed.), Picador Book of African Stories (London: Picador, 2000), pp. 95-100. Also published in Charles R. Larson (ed.), Under African Skies: Stories (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2005), pp. 284-288.
  • Extract from The Famished Road, in Kevin Powell (ed.), Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000).
  • 'A Hidden History', in James Procter (ed.), Writing Black Britain, 1948-1998: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 222-227.
  • '11 September 2001: Firebirth', in Anna Kiernan (ed.), Voices for Peace: An Anthology(London: Scribner, 2001; London: Simon & Schuster, 2001).
  • 'Mental Fight', in Douglas King-Smith (ed.), Festival of Flight: Free yourselves and others, Anti-Slavery International, 2002.
  • 'What the Tapster Saw', in Nadezda Obradovic (ed.), The Anchor Book of Modern African Stories (New York: Anchor Books, 2002), pp. 262-270.
  • 'The Black Russian', in Nick McDowell (ed.), Diaspora City: The London New Writing Anthology (London: Arcadia Books, 2003), pp. 211-214.
  • From The Age of Magic, Callaloo 37.2 (Spring 2014), pp. 207-213.
  • 'Under the Sun: A Meditation by Ben Okri on Stories', Irish Times, 4 November 2015. From The Mystery Feast.
  • 'Amina Abstracted: A New Play', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), pp. 1037-1040.

 

Articles & Essays
  • 'The Problems of Young Writers', Daily Times (Lagos), 10 August 1978, p. 20.
  • 'Fear of Flying', West Africa, 3 November 1980, pp. 2177-2178.
  • 'Women in a Male War', West Africa 3371 (15 March 1982), pp. 727-729.
  • 'Journeys Through the Imagination', review of Amos Tutuola's The Witch Herbalist of the Remote Town, West Africa, 14 February 1983, pp. 429-430.
  • 'Out of Silence' (review of Peter Fryer, Staying Power), New Statesman, 25 May 1984, p. 26.
  • 'Colouring Book' (review of Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mother's Gardens), in New Statesman, 22 June 1984, p. 24.
  • Review of V. S. Naipaul et al., Finding the Centre, Africa, 154 (1984), p. 49.
  • Review of Ada Ugah et al., Song of Talakawa, Africa, 155 (1984), p. 53.
  • 'Labelled', New Statesman, 15 March 1985, pp. 29-30.
  • 'Survivor's Testament' (review of Ellen Kuzwayo, Call Me Woman), West Africa, 7 June 1985, pp. 31-32.
  • 'Damp patches in the soul', Guardian, 20 September 1985, p. 17.
  • 'How Reality Overwhelms Good Fiction', Guardian (Manchester), 26 September 1985, p. 25.
  • 'No Room in the Inn', New Statesman, 20-27 December 1985, p. 33.
  • 'Lagos Lament', New Statesman, 9 May 1986, p. 35.
  • 'Gifted ... and Black', New Statesman, 17 October 1986, p. 36.
  • 'Soyinka: A Personal Yiew', West Africa, 27 October 1986, pp. 2249-2250.
  • 'Trapped before birth' (review of Amos Tutuola, Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer), Sunday Times, 15 March 1987.
  • 'Meditations of Othello', West Africa, 23 March and 30 March 1987, pp. 562-564 and 618-619.
  • 'Notes for a family portrait', Guardian, 3 September 1987, p. 12.
  • 'Vicious circle', Guardian, 20 September 1987, p. 28. Review of Anthills of the Savannah, by Chinua Achebe.
  • 'Fresh Interpretations' (review of Italo Calvino, The Literature Machine, West Africa, 25 January 1988, pp. 132-133.
  • 'A Saturday Service', West Africa, 11 April 1988, pp. 642-643.
  • 'Three Impressions of Black Churches', West Africa, 4 April 1988, pp. 596-597.
  • 'Keeping alive the true spirit of Africa' (review of Wole Soyinka, Art, Dialogue, Outrage), Sunday Times, 31 July 1988.
  • 'On Art and the Human Spirit' (review of Wole Soyinka, Art, Dialogue, Outrage), Third World Quarterly, 11.1 (January 1989), pp. 175-177.
  • 'Taking up the pen against Pretoria', Guardian, 10 March 1989, p. 30. Review of Mandela's Earth, by Wole Soyinka.
  • 'Black American's burden', Observer, 7 May 1989, p. 45. Review of Paul Robeson, by Martin Bauml Duberman.
  • 'Leaping out of Shakespeare's Terror', West African Magazine, 1989.
  • 'Statements at Conference Organized by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London' (Ben Okri, Maggie Gee, Farrukh Dhondy, Anon., Malise Ruthven, Marina Warner), Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 2.1 (Spring 1990), pp. 77-89 (pp. 77-78).
  • 'Echoes from world's end', Guardian, 17 May 1990, p. 22. Review of The Last World, by Christoph Ransmayr.
  • 'Redreaming the World: an essay for Chinua Achebe', Guardian, 9 August 1990, p. 23.
  • 'We Have No Other Way', in Sarah Lefanu and Stephen Hayward (eds.), Colours of a New Day: Writing for South Africa (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990; also published as Colors of a New Day: Writing for South Africa, New York: Pantheon Books, 1991).
  • 'Sailing with a monster', Guardian, 13 June 1991, p. 25. Review of Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson.
  • 'While the World Sleeps', Guardian, 1991.
  • 'Of Poets and Their Antagonists', in Malcolm Bradbury and Judy Cooke (eds.), New Writing (London: Minerva / British Council, 1992), pp. 151-59.
  • 'Plea for Somalia', Guardian, 3 September 1992.
  • 'The Catastrophe Now Facing Nigeria', Guardian, 6 September 1994, p. 18.
  • 'Time to Dream the Best Dream of All', Guardian, 7 January 1995, p. A5.
  • 'The Case of Ken Saro-Wiwa' (Letter, with Chinua Achebe, G. F. Michelson, Harold Pinter, Norman Rush, Susan Sontag, and Robert Stone), New York Review of Books, 20 April 1995, p. 71.
  • 'Listen to my friend', Guardian, 1 November 1995, p. 19.
  • 'Fables Are Made of This', Guardian, 1995.
  • 'BBC accountability is put to the test', Guardian, 25 July 1996, p. 6.
  • 'A Poet in Search of Arcadia', European 346 (26 December 1996), pp. 16-19.
  • 'London to Arcadia', in Benedict Allen et al., More Great Railway Journeys (London: Penguin, 1997).
  • 'The neglect of writers is a dangerous thing for any country: Ben Okri offers a provocation', Royal Society of Literature Magazine (2003 issue).
  • 'The New Dark Age', Guardian, 19 April 2003, p. 18.
  • 'The true issue of this century is not terrorism, or religion. It is freedom. We need to de-censor our minds', Herald, 11 August 2003, p. 9.
  • 'Schools of the Future', Ode 5 (June 2003). Also published in Dutch as 'De universiteit van de toekomst', Ode 58 (2004).
  • 'Our work is to free talent in the project of humanity', Times Higher Education Supplement Issue 1594, 20 June 2003, p. 20.
  • Foreword to The Dialogue of the Dogs by Miguel de Cervantes, transl. by William Rowlandson (London: Hesperus Press, 2004).
  • 'Healing the Africa within us', Ode 16 (September 2004). Also published as 'Healing the Africa in us', SGI Quarterly 39 (January 2005).
  • 'Ben Okri on Basquiat', Modern Painters (May 2005), pp. 62-67.
  • 'The Lost Art of Enchantement: Story Telling and Magic', Bollettino '900 1&2 (June-December 2005).
  • 'A Londoner's Diary', Evening Standard, 8 December 2005.
  • 'Famished road: Ben Okri recalls being homeless and hungry on the streets of London', Roof (London) 33.1 (2008), p. 8.
  • '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, p. 30.
  • 'The Obama phenomenon: a dream can compel people to hold their breath in wonder', Times, 1 November 2008, p. 6.
  • 'The road to the White House', Times, 8 November 2008, p. 16. Also published as 'America follows its bliss', Times (South Africa), 9 November 2008.
  • 'Heritage and Vision', New Black Magazine, 26 November 2008.
  • 'He was a genius in the art of fame', Times, 27 June 2009, pp. 14-15. Lenny Henry, Robin Gibb, Ben Okri and Mark Ellen on their memories of Michael Jackson.
  • '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.
  • '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.
  • 'Food, Ritual, and Death', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), pp. 1034-1036.
  • 'A Fragment', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), p. 1041.
  • 'The Muse of Archaeology', in Colin Renfrew, Michael J. Boyd & Iain Morley (eds.), Death Rituals, Social Order and the Archaeology of Immortality in the Ancient World: "Death Shall Have No Dominion" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), pp. 436-438.
  • '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.
  • 'When writers fall silent, something has gone wrong in the mood of a country', New Statesman, 31 March - 6 April 2017, p. 52. Also published onlin as 'Brexit is Iago's paradise', New Statesman, 30 March 2017.
  • '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.
  • 'Something is in the Air', Financial Times, 12 June 2020.
  • 'Death Hovers over Us All', New Statemen, 24 July - 13 August 2020, pp. 72-73.
  • 'Ben Okri on Why Cornwall Is His Favourite Creative Escape', Condé Nast Traveller, 14 September 2020.

 

Interviews
  • 'Fantasies Born in the Ghetto', by Nicholas Shakespeare, Times, 24 July 1986, p. 23.
  • 'The Disaster Area of the Mind: Interview with Ben Okri', by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, Elle, July 1989.
  • 'Ben Okri, winner of the Booker Prize, talks about his book to Jane Wilkinson', Guardian, 24 October 1991, p. 23.
  • 'There Is Wonder Here', by Howard Philip, Times, 24 October 1991, p. 15.
  • 'An Author In Search of Humility', by Kate Miur, Times, 25 October 1991, p. 15.
  • 'The Lonely Road from Twilight to Hard Sun', by Linda Grant, Observer, 27 October 1991.
  • 'Ben Okri', by Jane Wilkinson, Talking with African Writers (London/Porthsmouth: James Currey/Heinemann, 1992), pp. 76-89.
  • 'There Are Many Mansions Within Us', by Carolyn Newton, Weekly Mail Supplement (Johannesburg, South Africa), 27 March 1992, p. 3.
  • 'Talking with Ben Okri', by Alan Ryan, Newsday, 19 July 1992.
  • 'An Interview with Ben Okri', by Carolyn Newton, South African Literary Review 2.3 (September 1992), pp. 5—6.
  • 'Ben Okri Reflects on a Year as the Miss World of Bookdom', by Jonathon Green, Times, 13 October 1992, p. 14.
  • 'Interview with Jean Ross', in Donna Olendorf (ed.), Contemporary Authors 138 (Detroit: Gale Research, 1993), pp. 337-341.
  • 'Den infernalske sinnsro', by Alf van der Hagen and Trude Kleven, Vagant 2 (1993), pp. 16-20. In Norwegian.
  • 'An Interview with Ben Okri', by Pietro Deandrea, Africa America Asia Australia 16 (1994), pp. 55-82.
  • 'Ben Okri', in Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Some African Voices of Our Time (Accra, Ghana : Anansesem Publications, 1995).
  • 'A Very English Story', by Jonathon Wilde, New Yorker, 6 March 1996, pp. 96-106.
  • 'Writes of Passage: Interview with Ben Okri', by Caroline Jowett, Sojourn, October 1996, pp. 26-31.
  • 'Whisperings of The Gods: An Interview with Ben Okri', by Delia Falconer, Island Magazine 71 (Winter 1997), pp. 43-51.
  • 'Les fantômes de Ben Okri', Interview by Dominique Mataillet, Jeune Afrique 1903 (1997), pp. 80-83. In French.
  • 'My media: Ben Okri', by Carolyne Ellis, Guardian, 1 December 1997, p. C3. Ben Okri lists his favourite newspapers, magazines, books, etc.
  • 'Dubbelspion voor de toekomst: Ben Okri', by Jan Landman, Bijeen: Mensen Mondiaal 30.11 (December 1997), pp. 17-20.
  • 'Een tovenaar met woorden', by Christelle Méplon, Morgen, 1 December 1999.
  • 'My best teacher Ben Okri', by Hilary Wilce, Times Educational Supplement 4396, 29 September 2000, p. 7.
  • 'Thinking for ourselves', Interview by Jurriaan Kamp, Ode 1 (August 2002). Also published in Dutch as 'De roeping van Ben Okri', Ode 52 (November 2002).
  • 'Ben Okri: "Shakespeare is voor mij een Afrikaans schrijver"', by Kathy Mathys, Standaard: Letteren, 25 September 2003, pp. 8-9.
  • 'Mixing It: Novelists Ben Okri and Amy Tan talk to Bel Mooney about their eclectic spirituality', by Bell Mooney, New Internationalist 370 (August 2004), p. 28.
  • 'Skinning the Lion: Ben Okri talks to Derek Walcott about poetry and painting, racism in literature, and ideas of Arcadia', Royal Society of Literature Magazine (2005 issue).
  • 'Small Talk', by Whitney Kisling, Financial Times, 11 August 2007, p. 38.
  • 'Points of Enchantment', by Sarah Fulford, Resurgence 251 (2008), pp. 48-50.
  • 'Cultural Life: Ben Okri, author', by Charlotte Cripps, Independent, 8 February 2008, p. 2.
  • 'One Minute With... Ben Okri', Interview by Henry Brennan, Independent, 17 April 2009, p. 28.
  • 'Feature: Ben Okri', Interview by Molara Wood, Farafina 17 (2009).
  • 'How we met: Harper Simon & Ben Okri', Interviews by Simmy Richman, Independent on Sunday, 2 May 2010, p. 54.
  • 'A fortress in France, a train through the Rockies, the vigour of Lagos and the inner heartbeat of England — they've all inspired Ben Okri', Interview by Lizzie Enfield, Sunday Times, 20 June 2010, p. 23.
  • 'My Family Values', Interview by Juliet Rix, Guardian, 26 June 2010, p. 10. Also published as 'Father's stash of books from London, mother's storytelling', Hindu, 26 June 2010, p. 11.
  • 'Interview: Ben Okri', Granta, 7 April 2011. Online only.
  • 'Ben Okri', by Rowenna Davis, New Internationalist (June 2011), p. 62.
  • 'The Mysteries of the World: Conversation with Ben Okri', by Anderson Tepper, Tin House 49 (Fall 2011), pp. 37-45.
  • 'Interview with Ben Okri', by Rosemary Gray, Journal of Literary Studies 28.4 (2012), pp. 4-13.
  • '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, 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.
  • '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.
  • 'Painter of Secrets', by Anupama Raju, Frontline (30 November 2012), pp. 105-108.
  • 'Ben Okri in Conversation', by Vanessa Guignery and Catherine Pesso-Miquelin, in Vanessa Guignery (ed.), The Famished Road: Ben Okri's Imaginary Homelands (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013), pp. 17-29.
  • 'Cultural life: Ben Okri, Novelist', by Charlotte Cripps, Independent, 15 March 2013. Ben Okri selects his favourite books, films, plays and television shows.
  • 'An Interview with Ben Okri', by Charles Henry Rowell, Callaloo 37.2 (Spring 2014), pp. 214-221.
  • '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: Home Is Where the He(art) Is', by Sebelelo Majozi, Sable 15 (Autumn 2015), pp. 6-18.
  • 'An Interview with Ben Okri', by Vanessa Guignery, Callaloo 38.5 (Falle 2015), pp. 1053-1063.
  • 'Our politicians have failed us more than our writers: Ben Okri', interview by Priyanka Dasgupta, Times of India, 19 January 2016.
  • 'Travelling Life: Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri', interview by Saeed Saeed, National, 21 March 2016.
  • 'Lookin Back: James Ogude in Conversation with Ben Okri: 26 April 2014, University of Pretoria, South Africa', Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap 36.3 (September 2020), pp. 26-35.
  • 'A Song of Freedom', interview by Rebecca George, Publishers Weekly 266.50, 9 February 2019, p. 123.
  • '"I can't live without good conversation, or love" Ben Okri, poet and novelist', New Statesman, 21-27 September 2018, p. 94.
  • '"Die Magie des Bewusstseins": ein Gespräch mit Ben Okri', interview by Jess Smee, Kulturaustausch 3 (2019), p. 32.
  • 'Ben Okri: "I began Don Quixote as one person and finished as another", Guardian, 8 March 2019.
  • '"VÃ¥r föreställningsförmÃ¥ga gör världen ny igen": intervju med Ben Okri', by Erik Falk and Birgitta Wallin, Karavan 2 (2020), pp. 48-55.
  • 'Ben Okri on Perception and Illusion', interview by Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 8 February 2021.

 

In Translation

Fiction

Incidents at the Shrine

  • När ljuset vänder Ã¥ter, trans. into Swedish by Jan Ristarp (Höganäs: Bra böcker, 1994).
  • Il venditore di sogni, trans. into Italian by Giorgio Bizzi (Florence: Giunti, 1998). Also translates Stars of the New Curfew.
  • Maskeraden und andere Erzählungen, trans. into German by Helmuth A. Niederle (Munich & Vienna: Kappa, 2001).

Stars of the New Curfew

  • De rood bestoven stad, trans. into Dutch by Irene Eichholtz (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1991).
  • Étoiles d'un nouveau couvre-feu, trans. into French by Agnès Gattegno (Paris: U.G.E., 1994).
  • Zvezde novog policijskog casa, trans. into Serbian by Ljubica Brajer (Belgrade: Clio, 1997).
  • Il venditore di sogni, trans. into Italian by Giorgio Bizzi (Florence: Giunti, 1998). Also translates Incidents at the Shrine.
  • Mesto cerveného prachu, trans. into Czech by Vera Stovícková-Heroldová (Prague: Vysehrad, 2003).

The Famished Road

  • Droga bez dna, trans. into Polish by Krzysztof Mazurek (Poznan: Zysk i S-ka Wydawnictwo, 1991).
  • De hongerende weg, trans. into Dutch by Martha Vooren (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1992).
  • La via della fame, trans. into Italian by Susanna Basso (Milano: Bompiani, 1992).
  • Sultens vej, trans. into Danish by Henning Juul Madsen (Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter, 1993; Copenhagen: Samlerens Bogklub, 1993).
  • Den omättliga vägen, trans. into Swedish by Jan Ristarp (Höganäs: Wiken, 1993).
  • La carretera hambrienta, trans. into Spanish by José Luis López Muñoz (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1994).
  • Die hungrige Strasse, trans. into German by Uli Wittmann (Cologne: Kiepenheuer und Witsch, 1994; Munich: Dt. Taschenbuchverl, 1995).
  • La route de la faim, trans. into French by Aline Weill (Paris: Laffont, 1994; Paris: Laffont, 1997).
  • El camino hambriento, trans. into Spanish by Anita Gómez de Cárdenas (Santa Fé de Bogotá: Norma, 2000; Barcelona: La Otra Orilla, 2008). New translation.
  • Hladová cesta, trans. into Czech by Vera Stovícková-Heroldová (Prague: Volvox Globator, 2000).
  • Jadah-yi gurosneh, trans. into Persian by Muhammad Javad Firouzi va Farhad Baziari (Teheran: Intisharat-i Ashtad, 2000).
  • Ji e zhi lu, trans. into Chinese by Weidong Wang (Nanjing: Yi lin chu ban she, 2003; Taibei Shi: Da kuai wen hua chu ban gu fen you xian gong si, 2004).

Songs of Enchantment

  • Toverzangen, trans. into Dutch by Martha Vooren (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1994).
  • Fortryllelsens sange, trans. into Danish by Henning Juul Madsen (Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter, 1994; Copenhagen: Samlerens Bogklub, 1994).
  • Piesni zaczarowania, trans. into Polish by Tomasz Bieron (Poznan: Zysk i S-ka, 1998).
  • Canciones del encantamiento, trans. into Spanish by Hernán D. Caro (Barcelona: La Otra orilla, 2008).

Astonishing the Gods

  • Etonner les dieux, trans. into French by Jean Guiloineau (Paris: Christian Bourgeois, 1997).
  • Io sono invisibile, trans. into Italian by Mario Monti (Milan: Bompiani, 1997).
  • Der Unsichtbare, trans. into German by Helmuth A. Niederle (Munich & Vienna: Kappa, 2000).
  • De onzichtbare, trans. into Dutch by Paul van der Lecq (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 2006).

Dangerous Love

  • Een gevaarlijke liefde, trans. into Dutch by Tinke Davids (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1996; Amsterdam: Rainbow Pocketboeken, 2003).
  • Verfängliche Liebe, trans. into German by Uli Wittmann (Cologne: Kiepenheuer und Witsch, 1996; Munich: Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1999).
  • Vaarallista rakkautta, trans. into Finnish by Seppo Loponen (Helsinki: Otava, 1996).
  • Un amour dangereux, trans. into French by Jean Guiloineau (Paris: Christian Bourgeois, 1997; Paris: Seuil, 2004).
  • Farlig kærlighed, trans. into Danish by Henning Juul Madsen (Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter, 1997).
  • Farlig kärlek, trans. into Swedish by Thomas Preis (Stockholm: Bonnier, 1997).
  • Amor peligroso, trans. into Spanish by Nuria Lago Jaraiz (Barcelona: Ediciones Del Bronce, 1998).
  • Un amore pericoloso, trans. into Italian by Giorgio Bizzi (Florence: Giunti, 1999).
  • Tehlikeli ask, trans. into Turkish by Berrin Karayazici Aksoy (Ankara: Imge, 2001).

Infinite Riches

  • Onmetelijke rijkdom, trans. into Dutch by Annelies Eulen (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1999).
  • Uendelige rigdomme, trans. into Danish by Henning Juul Madsen (Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter, 2000).
  • Riquezas infinitas, trans. into Spanish by Juanjo Estrella (Barcelona: El Cobre Edicions, 2005).

In Arcadia

  • In Arcadië, trans. into Dutch by Marijke Koekoek (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 2003).

Starbook

  • El mago de las estrellas: un cuento mágico de amor y regeneración, trans. into Spanish by Ramón González Férriz (Barcelona: La Otra orilla, 2007).
  • Zvedzdana knjiga: cudesna prica o ljubavi i preporodu, trans. into Serbian by Dragan Popovic (Belgrade: Laguna, 2008).
  • Stjernebogen: en magisk fortælling om kærlighed og fornyelse, trans. into Danish by Jan Hansen (Copenhagen: Tiderne Skifter, 2009).
Poetry

An African Elegy

  • Afrikanische Elegie, trans. into German by Helmuth A. Niederle (Munich: Kappa, 1999).

Mental Fight

  • Combat mental, trans. into French by Jean Guiloineau (Paris: Christian Bourgeois, 1999). Bilingual edition.
  • Gevecht in de geest: Keerspreuk voor de 21ste eeuw; trans. into Dutch by Robert Dorsman (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 2000).

Non-Fiction

A Way of Being Free

  • Een vorm van vrijheid, trans. into Dutch by Frans van der Wiel (Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 1997).
  • Vögel des Himmels - Wege zur Freiheit: Zwölf Essays und ein Gedicht, trans. into German by Helmuth A. Niederle (Munich & Vienna: Kappa, 1999).

 

Audiobooks

Poetry

  • Mental Fight, read by Ben Okri, 1 cassette, approx. 50 minutes (London: Orion Audiobooks, 1999).

 

Miscellaneous
  • 'Books of the year', by Matthew Engel, Guardian, 5 December 1997, p. 115. Ben Okri briefly recommends books.
  • 'How did we miss these?', by Robert McCrum, Observer, 2 September 2007, p. 4. Ben Okri recommends Christopher Okigbo's Labyrinths.
  • 'An afternoon with Sir David Attenborough' (Interview conducted by Ben Okri), Guardian, 3 June 2009.
  • 'Some Aphorisms', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), pp. 1042-1043.
  • 'Some Thoughts on the Stoku as a Form', Callaloo 38.5 (Fall 2015), p. 1044.

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