Professor Onyeka Nwelue, Nigerian born author and founder of the James Currey Society, at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, has been appointed a visiting scholar at the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Professor Nwelue who also double as a lecturer at Oxford University, confirmed the appointment in a statement.
He said, “I am delighted to share this great news with you. Yesterday, I was approved as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge. Thanks to Dr. Bronwen Everill, the director. Now, I belong to two of the best universities in the world at the same time: Oxford and Cambridge.”
Though, this is coming seven months after the academic guru made the teaching of Igbo language possible at the prestigious Oxford University.
Recall that on the 18th of February 2022, Emmanuel Ikechukwu Umeonyihirioha announced through his official Twitter handle that he has been inducted by Oxford University to teach Igbo language.
According to Ikechukwu’s update on Twitter, his induction automatically made him the first Igbo language lecturer at the University.
Emmanuel while announcing the feat said, “It is official that I am the first official Igbo Language lecturer at the number one university in the world, the University of Oxford.
“Our induction happened today by Marion Sadoux, Head of Modern Language Programmes, University of Oxford Language Centre.
“This became possible in account of the James Currey Society. This is the first time the Igbo language will be taught at the university. History has been made.”
James Currey Society which Emmanuel Ikechukwu acknowledged as the organization that made the whole project possible was found by professor Onyeka Nwelue.
A brief biography of Onyeka Nwelue.
Onyeka Nwelue is a Nigerian filmmaker, publisher, talk-show host, bookseller, author and an Academic Visitor and founder of the James Currey Society, at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
His non-fiction book Hip-Hop is Only for Children won the Creative Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2015 Nigerian Writers’ Awards. He adapted his novella Island of Happiness into an Igbo-language film, Agwaetiti Obiụtọ, which won Best Feature Film by a Director at the 2018 Newark International Film Festival and went on to be nominated for Best First Feature Film by a Director and the Ousmane Sembene Award for Best Film in an African Language at the 2018 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Island of Happiness was inspired by true events in Oguta.
Nwelue is the founder of La Cave Musik, a record label based in Paris, France, and co-founded the UK-based publishing house Abibiman Publishing.
Nwelue studied Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and earned a scholarship to study Directing at the Prague Film School in Czech Republic. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, by Universite Queensland in Haiti in 2019.
He studied Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature, under Professor Martin Puchner at Harvard University. The Onyeka Nwelue Scholarship for outstanding Imo State Economics is named after him.
He was a Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, in South Africa, where he runs a bookshop Hattus Books and co-founded World Arts Agency.
He is currently a visiting assistant professor and Visiting Fellow of African Literature and studies in the English Language Department of the Faculty of Humanities, Manipur University in Imphal, India. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies, Ohio University, where he spent time in Athens, Ohio.
His second novel, The Beginning of Everything Colourful, was shortlisted for the ANA Prose Fiction Prize in 2018, and his collection of poetry, The Lagos Cuban Jazz Club, was shortlisted for ANA Poetry Prize in the same year.
Nwelue is a Visiting Fellow (Academic Visitor) at the University of Oxford.
He is the founder of Oxford-based James Currey Society, which administers The James Currey Prize for African Literature and The James Currey Fellowship, in cooperation with African Studies Centre at University of Oxford.