About Me — Uzoma Okafor

Trying to write my heart out

Photo by Author

I remember the first time words struck a chord in my heart. I was eleven years old and had just moved to a new school, and one of the required textbooks was a book titled Anthology of West African Poems. The moment I read the first poem, my mind was blown.

My name is Uzoma (pronounced as read). It’s a Nigerian name, specifically Igbo (one of the major tribes in Nigeria, from which I hail). Literally translated, it means good road/way/door.

I live in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

I studied Accounting at the University of Portharcourt, Nigeria, and worked as an accountant from 2012 to 2018 when I quit my last job to focus on my writing and start a business. I rose to managerial level and headed the accounting unit of my organization before I left. I have plans to return to the profession.

I joined Medium in September 2020, wrote two stories, and abandoned it but was re-motivated when I received an invitation by a Publication, An Idea (Ingenious piece), to write for them.

My first foray into literature was by poems as can be foretold by my opening paragraph but I am currently writing my second novel while looking for a publishing home for the first.