Titilola Alexandrah Atinuke SHONEYIN

Titilola Alexandrah Atinuke SHONEYIN (poet, short story writer, scriptwriter, Nigeria; born 1974, Ibadan) started writing at an early age. Now, at 25, her poetry and fiction have received four National Awards from the Association of Nigerian Authors. Her first poetry collection, So All the Time I Was Sitting on an Egg (Ovalonion House, 1998) was followed by a second, unpublished collection, Matters of Grave Persistence, which received the first prize in the competition of the Ono chapter of ANA. She is currently editor of the Ovalonion Publishing House and marketing manager for the literary journal, Glendora Review. A former student of IWP alumnus Niyi Osundare, Lola holds the MA in literature from the University of Ibadan and the BA (Honours) in English from Ogun State University. Her poetry, newspaper articles and scripts for television sitcoms and the radio soap opera "B.T.Street" are popular; her poems and short fiction have appeared in Glendora Review, the Association of Nigerian Authors Review, and in various Nigerian newspapers and magazines. She plans to establish a non-governmental organization and creative writing school, Rising World, that will stimulate and encourage other young writers. The US Information Agency is providing the grant for her participation in the IWP.