The prestigious Jacar Press New Voices Award for 2024 has been awarded to Nigerian poet Chisom Okafor for his remarkable collection, All I Know About a Heavy Heart Is How to Carry It. The winning manuscript was selected by Jaki Shelton Green.
Chisom’s work is celebrated for its revival of an absorbing and observant language that delves deeply into the complexities of the human condition. In a landscape often saturated with simplicity, Chisom’s work stands out by poetically restoring chaos and complexity as universal elements of human experience. His collection is praised for sweeping readers through unexpected passages and dislocations, leaving them with a profound understanding of vulnerability and humanity.
This award-winning collection is set to be released in 2025, promising to deliver more of the compelling and thought-provoking work that has earned Chisom this significant accolade.
Chisom Okafor is a Nigerian poet, who has worked as a nutritionist, dietitian, bartender, accountant and night auditor. He was shortlisted for the Brittle Paper Award for Poetry in 2018 and the Gerald Kraak Prize in 2019. His work appears in the Indian Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Palette Poetry, Frontier Poetry, SAND Journal, 2019 Gerald Kraak Anthology, The Rising Phoenix Review, Kikwetu Journal, and elsewhere.
Congratulations, Chisom!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
