Uchenna Awoke, Artist Protection Fund
“APF Gave Me Back My Stifled Voice:” Writer Uchenna Awoke Investigates Nigerian Conflict Through Fiction
With Support from IIE’s Artist Protection Fund, Awoke Completed His Acclaimed Debut Novel, The Liquid Eye of a Moon
In 2024, Uchenna Awoke published his debut novel, The Liquid Eye of a Moon, receiving international acclaim for his portrayal of Dimkpa, a 15-year-old boy hampered by his family’s status in the Igbo caste system. Dubbed “the Nigerian Catcher in the Rye,” the novel uses the chaos of adolescence to explore social stratification in Africa, the struggle to break from tradition, and the search for identity in a conflict-stricken world.
“I believe a writer’s duty is to reflect their era… [W]riting is my way of bearing witness to such acts of inhumanity… to find something of value in the face of human pain and suffering.”
Nearly a decade before releasing his book, however, Uchenna came dangerously close to experiencing the violence he would later write about in his home state of Enugu, Nigeria. In April 2016, shortly before dawn, armed attackers launched a coordinated assault on farmers in the Nimbo community, in an incident linked to wider farmer-herder tensions. The attack killed and injured dozens, destroyed homes and property, and left behind a deep-rooted sense of fear across the region.
The attack was part of a broader and increasingly violent struggle between livestock herders and sedentary crop farmers over access to arable land in central and northern Nigeria. Humanitarian organizations have linked Nigeria’s displacement crisis to overlapping pressures, including conflict, climate shocks, and food insecurity. In regions affected by farmer-herder clashes, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
“My pen is my only true weapon,” he says as he recalls the incident. “The conflict back home nearly stripped that away from me, and for a writer, losing your voice is the deepest agony,” he reflects on the attack.
Determined to build his own resilience and understanding amid conflict through writing, Uchenna won residencies from MacDowell and the Vermont Studio Center and was named a 2019 Gray Wolf African Fiction Prize finalist.
These opportunities allowed Uchenna to refine his writing practice and expand his network of literary peers, including through his work with acclaimed American author and educator Jeffery Renard Allen. Impressed by Uchenna’s talent and dedication, Allen eventually provided a strong letter of reference in support of his Artist Protection Fund application.
In 2022, Uchenna was awarded a prestigious IIE Artist Protection Fund (APF) Fellowship and placed in residence at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville the following year. He shares, “[The APF fellowship] granted me a year of peace and sanctuary to focus on my writing in Fayetteville, Arkansas.”
“Programs like the Artist Protection Fund are vital lifelines that protect persecuted creatives, defend cultural rights, and ensure that essential human expression survives global crises and authoritarian crackdowns,” Uchenna declares. “Most importantly, APF gave me back my stifled voice.”
Through APF, Uchenna gained the support and resources to focus on editing the manuscript for The Liquid Eye of a Moon and developing new work. He thrived within the university’s literary community, facilitating workshops and building lasting relationships with mentors, fellow writers, and friends.
Uchenna says his APF Fellowship was transformative: “I left the University of Arkansas with a clearer sense of my own artistic purpose.” By sharing his story and writing, Uchenna was named one of the “10 Writers to Watch” by Publishers Weekly, a significant milestone for his career.
Committed to using art to preserve history, challenge censorship, and inspire positive change, Uchenna followed his APF Fellowship by successfully applying to and earning a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. In May 2026, he published his second novel, A Siege of Owls. Once again, Uchenna uses conflict in Nigeria as the backdrop for his protagonist Ekwe’s story, a journey interwoven with tragedy, danger, and hope.
Uchenna is currently completing a Writer-at-Risk Fellowship at the University of Iowa while writing his third novel, which he describes as “an intensely personal exploration of the stigma and violence faced by people with albinism across sub-Saharan Africa.”
In Nigeria, herder-farmer clashes have continued, making it difficult for Uchenna to return home. He hopes to one day “return to a peaceful homeland where he can enrich the literary community through storytelling and mentorship.”
The Artist Protection Fund works to protect threatened artists by providing fellowship grants, resources, and placements at host institutions in safe countries, enabling them to continue developing their creative work.