Uduma Kalu, BA, MA
Journalist and Writer
Email: ezeogo@yahoo.com, udumak28@gmail.com
Phone: +2348126503270, +2348035176155
EDUCATION
MA English, University of Ibadan, 1999
BA (HON) English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1995
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATES
Certificate of Attendance, Directorate of Employment, Federal Republic of Nigeria—Entrepreneurship Training for Graduates of Tertiary Institutions, 2021
Certificate in First-Class EsseTechQuarkxpress/Page Building, July 2005
Certificate in Executrain Introduction to Computers Using Windows 98, 2001
Certificate in Digital Information Computer Institute Microsoft Word, 2001
Certificate in Visualtech Desktop Publishing, 2001
Service Certificates
NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE CORPS, 1996
Work Experience
Senior Special Adviser to the Abia State Governor on Media, Research, and Documentation, 2021-2023 (I worked in media, research, project monitoring, documentation, book writing, and data gathering)
Media Consultant (Media consulting, networking, promotion, research, reporting, writing, editing, publishing, book/author promotions) 2015-2021
Alternate Secretary/Secretary, Editors Meeting, Vanguard Newspaper, 2009-2015 (writing/reading minutes for editors and keeping records of editorial meetings)
Deputy Features Editor, Vanguard Newspaper, 2008-2015
Head, Foreign Desk, Vanguard Newspaper, 2013-2014
Acting Editor, Saturday Vanguard Newspaper, April, 2013
Award Coordinator, Vanguard Newspaper, 2009-2015 (collating stories for awards)
News Editor, 2008-2014 (editing, content gathering, overseeing the editorial and production team, networking with management, staff, and correspondents, overseeing production of the newspaper, managing staff, rewriting, debriefing reporters, overseeing opinion/editorial pages as well as page, editorial design, and organizing meetings of editors—education, energy, sports, crime, politics, business, agriculture, aviation, labor, news planning, monitoring, reporting, and analysis—features writing, managing staff, rewriting articles, editing, proofreading, production of pages, presiding over the generation of ideas, liaising with reporters and state correspondents, supervision, and collating stories for awards)
Literary Editor, The Guardian Newspaper, 1999-2007
Book Art/ Art Reviews, Arts Reporting, Features Writing, News Reporting, Page Planning and Production, Supervision, Networking, Staff Management, Features Writing, Subbing, Rewriting, News Evaluation
Friday Review Editor, The Guardian Newspaper’s Entertainment and Show Business Magazine, 2003-2007
Literary Editor, The Guardian Literary Supplement, 2002-2006
Acting Arts Editor, The Guardian Newspaper, June, July 2003; June, July 2004; June, July 2005; June-July 2006; June-July 2007
Sub-Editor, The Guardian Newspaper, 2000
Proof Reader/Reporter, Champion Newspapers, 1997-1999 (proof reading, reporting, rewriting, editing, book reviews, features writing, art/book reporting)
National Youth Service Corps, 1995-1996 (member, Orientation Broadcasting Service; Head, Department of English, City College, Akure, Ondo State, January 1996-March 1996; worked with the Key Newspaper as Arts Editor, Features Editor, Sports Editor, Reporter, Proof Reader, April-November 1996. In these positions, I broadcast news, taught, managed the affairs of the Department of English, prepared students for outside-school activities, reporting news, features writing, page production, media promotions, and staff management)
Freelance Journalist (Since 1991, I have done freelance work with media organizations such as the Vanguard Newspapers, the Champion Newspapers, the Guardian Newspapers, Thisday Newspapers, the Sun Newspapers, Source Magazine, and TNT. I did freelance work such as interviews, research, reporting, and newspaper production.)
AWARDS
Literary Awards
Short List Korean-Nigerian Poetry Competition 2018
Shortlist Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Poetry Festival, 2006
Shortlist ANA Literary Journalist of the Year, 2006
Shortlist ANA Literary Journalist of the Year, 2005
Award of Honor Association of Nigerian Authors Imo State, Owerri, 2005
Shortlist ANA Literary Journalist of the Year, 2004
Shortlist May Ayim International Prize for Black Literature, Berlin, 2001
Winner First Prize UNN Poetry Prize, 1995
Second Prize, UNN Essay Writing Prize, 1994
Third Prize UNN Short Stories Prize, 1992
Shortlist UNN Poetry Prize, 1991
Media Awards
Winner Wordpress.com Award for Gathering Over 10M Views in Three Months of Operation, April-June, 2015
Nominee Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA)Tourism Reporter of the Year, 2006
Nominee Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) Sports Reporter of the Year, 2005
Winner Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) Entertainment Reporter of the Year, 2004
PUBLICATIONS
Published Books
POETRY
Life Sentence, Red Phoenix Publications, 2023
Men from Space, White Ram Publishers, 2023
Crossroads: An Anthology of Poems in Honour of Christopher Okigbo, edited by Patrick T. Oguejiofor and Kalu Uduma, Apex Books, 2006
Selected Edited Books
The Land of My Birth, a novel by Abraham Nnadi, Partridge, 2016
Invisible Chapters, a novel by Maik Nwosu, House of Malaika and Hybon Books, 2005
Season of Flowers, a collection of poems by Edwin Archibong, Red Phoenix Publications, 2023
Festschrift for Okezie Victor Chukwubuikem Ikpeazu, PhD, a book of essays, Abia Publications, 2021
Genesis, poems by Olaka Agwara, Red Phoenix Publications, 2023
Works in Selected Anthologies and Websites
“Saint’s Lament,” Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria, edited by Nduka Otiono and Odoh Diego Okenyodo, Mace Associates Limited, Canada, 2021
“A Governor’s Letter to His Daughter,” in “Festschrift in Honour of Okezie Victor Chukwubikem Ikpeazu, edited by Kennedy Onyenma, Abia Publications, 2021
“Staccato Dance,” and “The River Roared Like Lion” in From Here to There, edited by Jerry Adesewo and Okechukwu Okeke Job, Nigeria-Korea Inter-Cultural Cooperation, Abuja, 2018
“A Warrior’s Tale, for Chinua Achebe”, The Muse Journal, Department of English, UNN, 2015
“The Making of Things Fall Apart,” in 3rd Steve Biko Memorial Lecture Magazine, Johannesburg, Sept. 2001
“Extended Relations,” in 25 New Nigerian Poets, edited by Toyin Adewale, Ishmael Reed Publishing Company, 2000
“Beyond the River,” Idoto, Creative Writing Workshop Journal, UNN, edited by Macphilips Nwachukwu, Nsukka, 1995
“Mermaid Dance,” Okike: Journal of African Writing, edited by Ossie Enekwe, 1999
“Riddle of the King,” Trembling Leaves, edited by Bunmi Oyisan, Mace Associates Limited, 1997
Selected Published Prefaces, Blurbs, Comments and Introductions to Books
The Land of My Birth, a novel by Abraham Nnadi, Partridge, 2016
Festschrift for Okezie Victor Chukwubuikem Ikpeazu, PhD, a book of essays, Abia Publications, 2021
Mourning, by Dokubo Melford Goodhead, Cornerstone Press, University of Wisconsin, 2022
Genesis, a book of poems by Olaka Agwara, Red Phoenix Publications, 2023
Season of Flowers, a book of poems by Edwin Archibong, Red Phoenix Publications, 2023
Forthcoming Books of Poetry
Night Confessors, 2024
Ife, 2024
Notes of a Nigerian Graduate, 2024
Paradise: Poems from the Back of Beyond, 2024 or early 2025
Oliver Twist: Love in Time of Hunger, 2025
Forthcoming Short Story Book
Minutes to Dawn, 2024
Essays and Criticism in Progress
Contemporary African Literature: Interviews and Criticism, Vol. I
Immortal Minds: An Exploration into the Minds of Africa’s Greats
Contemporary Nigerian Music, An Introduction
Nollywood: A History of the Nigerian Film Industry from Colonialism to the Present
Nigerian Fashion: A Generational Review
The CNN Generation: Issues in Contemporary African Literature
Film Credit
My features story on the late Biafran Head of State, Gen Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, titled, “Ojukwu: Sexcapades of the Biafran Leader,” published in the Vanguard Newspaper in 2012 inspired the film, Other Side of History, by Onyeka Nwelue, in 2021
Selected Citations of my Works Online
Achebe, Chinua. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra. The Penguin Press,
2012, p. 241. https://yeauganda.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/achebe-chinua-there-was-a-
country-a-personal-history-of-biafra.pdf
Adebisi, Kolawole Shitu and Daramola Nurudeen Olanrewaju. “Psychological Profiling of
Criminals in Violent Crime Investigations in Nigerian Criminal Justice System.”
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, 10, 208-218; p. 218
https://www.semanticscholar.org/reader/232ab93c8f92173b0b2f299455f68f5e5734f8a3
Akpome, Aghogho. “What is Nigeria? Unsettling the Myth of Exceptionalism.” African
Spectrum, Volume 50, Issue 1, April 2015, pages 65-78; p. 77
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/000203971505000105
Akpuda, Austine Amanze. “A Dream Beyond the Pyramids: Ferment, Harvest, Bazaar and
Carnival in Nigerian Literature Post-Soyinka Nobel Prize Era.” Daily Independent,
August 19, 2009, par. 31. https://senatorihenyen.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/a-dream-beyond-the-pyramids-ferment-harvest-bazaar-and-carnival-in-nigerian-literature-of-the-post-%E2%80%93-soyinka-nobel-prize-era-by-anstine-amanze-akpuda-daily-independent/
Asika, Ikechukwu Emmanuel. “Decolonizing Poetry: Form, Content and Linguistics of Nigerian
Pidgin in English Poetry.” Impact: International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts
and Literature, Vol. 2, Issue 9, Sept 2014, pp. 97-112; p. 100 https://archive.org/stream/12.HumanitiesDecolonizingPoetryFormContentAndLinguisticAsikaIkechukwuEmmanuel/12.Humanities-Decolonizing%20Poetry %20Form,%20Content%20and%20Linguistic Asika%20Ikechukwu%20Emmanuel_djvu.txt
Ayodabo, Sunday Joseph. “A Configuration of Socio-Political Dialectics in Nigerian Pidgin
English: Trends in Peter Onwudijo’s Poetry.” International Journal of Humanities and
Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, Issue 3, December 2015, pp. 79-93; p. 84.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289525539_A_Configuration_of_Socio-
Political_Dialectics_in_Nigerian_Pidgin_English_Trends_in_Peter_Onwudijo%27s_
Poetry
Egya, Sule E. “Art and Outrage: A Critical Survey of Recent Nigerian Poetry in English.”
Research in African Literatures, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 49-67; p. 50
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/reseafrilite.2011.42.1.49
----------. Nation, power and dissidence in third generation Nigerian poetry in English. NISC
PTY, p. 12.
Lindfors, Bernth. Black African Literature in English, 1997-1999. Hans Zell, 2003, p. 139.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Black_African_Literature_in_English_1997/rAUbyu1wRCsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Black+African+Literature+in+English,+1997-1999+Volume+6+By+Bernth+Lindfors+%C2%B7+2003&pg=PA135&printsec=frontcover
Nwachukwu, Mcphilips. “Nigeria: A Literary Scoop of Extended Relations....” Vanguard,
3 August 2002, pars 1-2. <https://allafrica.com/stories/200308040398.html>
“Ojukwu’s sex life finds historical viewing in Onyeka Nwelue’s controversial film.” Nigeria
Abroad, 18 April 2021, par. 6
https://nigeriabroad.com/ojukwu-s-sex-life-finds-historical-viewing-in-onyeka-nwelue-s-
controversial-film
Okekwe, Promise. “Rising Star on the Nigerian Literary Horizon Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku.” UJAH:
Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 13 No 2, 2012, pp. 126-148; p. 147
<https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ujah/article/view/84698>
The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Website. “Profiles.”
<http://www.cerep.ulg.ac.be/adichie/cnasecond.html#profiles>
Zabus, Chantal. “Of Female Husbands and Boarding School Girls: Gender Bending in Unoma
Azuah’s Fiction.” Research in African Literatures, Vol. 39, No. 2, Nigeria's Third-
Generation Novel: Preliminary Theoretical Engagements (Summer, 2008), pp. 93-107;
p. 107 <https://sorbonne-paris-nord.hal.science/hal-
01988716v1/preview/ZABUSFemaleHusbands20109581.pdf>
Selected Interviews
Achebe, Chinua. "To save democracy, we have to end impunity, respect the rule of law, tolerate
each other." Interview conducted by Jahman Anikulapo and Uduma Kalu. The Guardian, August 26, 1999
<https://ntm.ng/2023/05/21/chinua-achebe-to-save-democracy-we-have-to-end-impunity-respect-the-rule-of-law-tolerate-each-other/amp/>
Ebinum, Stephen Njedor. "What I have passed through at 80." Interview conducted by Uduma
Kalu. Vanguard, Sept. 28, 2009
<https://ohuzo.blogspot.com/2009/02/interview-what-i-have-passed-through-at.html?m=1>
Goodhead. Dokubo Melford. “Buguma’s early world of plenty, then of loss from Shell’s
despoliation drove me to poetry.” Conducted by Uduma Kalu. The ArtHub, January 5,
2024.
<https://thearthubng.com/bugumas-first-world-of-plenty-and-later-world-of-loss-from-shells-despoliation-drove-me-to-poetry-says-goodhead/>
Ike, V. C. "Nigeria: A Meeting of Minds, Professor V.C. Ike in Conversation with Professor
Osmond Enekwe, Uduma Kalu, and Alvan Ewuzie.” Interview conducted by Professor Osmond Enekwe, Uduma Kalu and Alvan Ewuzie. Chinua Achebe Interview Series No 33 by Chinua Achebe Foundation. The Guardian, August 27, 2006
<http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/chinua-achebe/2006aug27-chinua-achebe-foundation-vincent-chukwuemeka-ike-interview.html>
Ishaka, Peter. "My Experience as First Local Publisher of Who's Who - Ishaka." Interview
conducted by Uduma Kalu. Vanguard, May 11, 2009<link.gale.com/apps/doc/A199530346/EAIM?u=anon~4d8fb406&sid=sitemap&xid=a5c13344.>
Ojaide, Tanure. "Tanure Ojaide: Conversations with a Literary Warrior." Interview conducted by
Uduma Kalu. Cambridge University/The Guardian Newspaper, 2009, p. 13.
Okigbo, Bede. "Bede Okigbo in Conversation with Professor Ossie Enekwe, Uduma Kalu and
Alvan Ewuzie." Interview conducted by Professor Osmond Enekwe and Uduma Kalu.
Chinua Achebe Series 33 by Chinua Achebe Foundation, 2006 http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/chinua-achebe-foundation-blog/achebe_interview_series/2006/08/08/professor_bede_n_okigbo_in_conversation_with_professor_ossie_enekwe_uduma_kalu_and_alvan_ewuzie.php
Nwaezeigwe, N. T. "Why the Aro must pay for their slavery activities, by UNN scholar."
Interview conducted by Uduma Kalu. Vanguard, March 2015
<https://allafrica.com/stories/200903090596.html>
Nwauba, Ken. "Kidnapping Can Truncate Government, Says Nwauba." Interview conducted by
Uduma Kalu. Vanguard/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX, February 13, 2009
<https://allafrica.com/stories/200902130835.html>
Recent Professional and Artistic Activities
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Monthly Reading in Owerri, Guest Artist, October, 2023
Guest Artist, Dramatic and Poetry Presentation of Graduating Students of Calvary International School, Orji, Owerri, Imo State, September 2023
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Monthly Reading in Owerri, Guest Artist, August 2023
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Monthly Reading in Owerri, Guest Artist, May 2023
Editors' Strategic Meeting on Abia State Government, a meeting organized by the Abia state Ministry of Information, Umuahia, Dec 29, 2022 (I was a resource person)
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Monthly Reading in Owerri, Guest Speaker, October 2022
Abia Resident Editors Strategic Meeting, organized by Nigerian Union of Journalists, Umuahia, October 2022 (I was a resource person)
Abia State Government Book Reading, Presentation, and Dramatic Presentation of Festschript for Governor Okezie Victor Chukwubuikem Ikpeazu, August 2021, Umuahia, Abia state (I was a guest artist)
Selected Conferences and Readings:
Association of Nigerian Authors Resource Person and Media Representative, 1997-2019 (I represented the association at the following conferences: ANA Abuja, 1997; ANA Ilesa, 1999; ANA Kano, 2000; ANA Lokoja, 2003; ANA Port Harcourt, 2004; ANA Abuja, 2005; ANA Asaba, 2006; ANA, Owerri, 2007; ANA Makurdi, 2008; ANA Jos, 2009; ANA Uyo, 2010; ANA Awka, 2011; ANA Uyo, 2012; ANA Minna, 2013; ANA Zamfara, 2014; ANA Ife, 2015; ANA Enugu, 2019.
Organizer, ANA Monthly Reading Series, 2006 (I was a Guest Speaker at one of the reading series. The title of my paper was “Nigerian Literature: The Shape of Things to Come,” October 2, 2006).
ANA Meeting with President Olusegun Obasanjo, 2001 (In 2001, I was a member of the team of writers that represented the association in a meeting with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the State House, Abuja.)
Public Readings (As a journalist and resource person, I have also attended numerous literary conferences and readings in Nigeria. Some of them include: a reading at the National Theatre, Lagos; a reading at the British Council; a reading at United States Information Service (USIS) Center; a reading at the South African Embassy; a reading at the American Embassy, Lagos; a reading at the Goethe Institute; a reading at the French Cultural Center; a Glendora literary reading).
University Literary Conferences (I have also attended several university literary conferences. For example, I was the keynote speaker at the 2006 Literary and Arts Festival, organized by the Department of English, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The title of my paper was “Stifling the Sneeze: Censorship and Present Nigerian Literature.”
Other Readings (I have given private literary readings, readings organized by corporate organizations, literary groups as well as readings at literary awards, and book festivals. For example, I was a guest a literary chat with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with aspiring short story writers in 2013. The organizer was Fidelity Bank)
References
Maik Nwosu, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of English and Literary Arts
University of Denver
Sturm Hall, 2000 East Asbury Avenue, Denver, CO 80208
Email: maik.nwosu@du.edu
Phone: 303 871 2879
Nduka Otiono, PhD
Associate Professor and Director, Institute of African Studies, 1728 Dunton Tower
Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
Email: nduka.otiono@carleton.ca
Tel: 613 520 2600 ext. 2422
Chika Unigwe, PhD
Creative Director, Awele Creative Trust
Judge Man Booker International Prize, 2016-17
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Georgia State College and State University
3-23 Arts and Science Building
Email: chika.unigwe@gcsu.edu
Phone: 478 445 3508
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