Unoma Azuah

Unoma Azuah is a Nigerian writer, poet, novelist, memoirist, editor, scholar, and educator whose work examines gender, sexuality, identity, migration, and the experiences of African women. She was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, to a Tiv father from Benue State and an Igbo mother from Asaba, Delta State. She spent much of her childhood in Delta and the former Anambra State and later studied English at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she edited the English Department literary journal The Muse. She subsequently earned an MA in English from Cleveland State University and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Azuah's literary career spans poetry, fiction, short stories, memoir, and editorial work. Her books include Night Songs, Sky-High Flames, The Length of Light, Edible Bones, and Embracing My Shadow: Growing Up Lesbian in Nigeria. Her 2016 edited anthology Blessed Body: The Secret Lives of LGBT Nigerians brought together accounts of LGBTQ+ Nigerian lives and became an important part of her broader literary and advocacy work.

Sexuality has been a sustained part of Azuah's literary and scholarly work. She has publicly identified as a lesbian and has written directly about lesbian life, homophobia, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ Nigerians. Her memoir Embracing My Shadow documents her experiences growing up lesbian in Nigeria, while her scholarship examines Nigerian lesbian self-writing and the relationship between poetry, sexuality, religion, and empowerment.

Azuah continues to work as an educator and scholar in the United States. Wiregrass Georgia Technical College currently lists her as an English Instructor at its Valdosta Campus, while contemporary literary sources describe her research as focusing on queer theory and the lives and rights of LGBTQ+ Nigerians.