Biography of Romeo Oriogun.

Romeo Oriogun

Romeo Oriogun is a 21 century Nigerian Poets. His poems have appeared in Praxis, Afridiaspora, African Writer, Brittle Paper, and elsewhere. Shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, he’s the author of Burnt Men, an electronic chapbook published by Praxis.
Nigeria’s Romeo Oriogun has been named winner of the 2017 Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

Romeo’s “beautiful and deeply passionate” writing on masculinity and desire in the face of LGBT criminalisation and persecution earned him the top spot.

Oriogun lives and writes in Udi, a small town in Enugu State. His poems have been featured in Brittle Paper, African Writer, Expound, Praxis, and others. He is the author of Burnt Men, an electronic chapbook published by Praxis Magazine online. Some of his poems are KUMBAYA, SADDEST NIGHT ALIVE, DEPARTURE and many others...

Oriogun explained that he entered the Brunel International African Poetry Prize because “in Africa there are very few spaces for queer writing, I thought it was a means of sharing my poems.” He described reaching the shortlist as “a blessing and a surprise.”