Rems Umeasiegbu

Rems Nnayelugo Umeasiegbu (1943) is a Nigerian writer.

Biography

He was born in 1943 in Aba, south-eastern Nigeria. He attended College of Immaculate Conception, Enugu. In 1966, he proceeded to England for further studies. After spending a year in England, he got a scholarship to study at the Sedmnáctého listopadu, Prague. While in Prague, he wrote the seminal work The way we lived, which is a chronicle of folk tales from pre colonial Nigeria.

He graduated with a Masters degree in Mass Communication and proceeded to the United States for a Doctorate Degree in Oral Literature. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. he moved to the Grambling State University, Louisiana where he was an assistant professor. At Louisiana he wrote the work of fiction "Mazi Amesi", a fictional account of an African slave. In 1976, at the request of the Nigerian government, he returned to Nigeria. He married Virgy Anakwenze, a school teacher in 1976. Back in Nigeria, he worked at the Federal Ministry of Information, Lagos as an information officer with responsibilities for organising the festival of black arts and culture, FESTAC '77.

He left Lagos for a teaching appointment at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he was a colleague of the renowned writer Chinua Achebe. He left the University of Nigeria in 1978, for the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, where he rose to be the deputy head of the institution. Upon the creation of Anambra State, Umeasiegbu joined the newly formed Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, as one of the pioneer staff of the English language and literature department. he was made a professor of oral literature in 2001. Throughout his teaching career, Dr Umeasiegbu remained an avid writer, publishing some 35 books in a course of his career. He retired in 2008. He's currently a visiting professor at The department of English language and literature, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. 2014-date

External links

• Rems Umeasiegbu at Google books