Helon Habila

Helon Habila was born in 1967. He has worked both as a lecturer and a journalist in Nigeria. He was the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia from 2002-2004. His first novel, Waiting for an Angel (Penguin, 2003) won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region). It tells the story of Lomba, a young journalist living in Lagos under Nigeria's brutal regime. Helon Habila was also a winner of the Caine Prize, 2001. His second Book, Measuring Time is coming out in 2006.

''The culture of poverty, violence and fear is so skilfully and quietly evoked that it is almost palpable .... The story is peopled with sharply drawn, idiosyncratic characters. Deeply moving and memorable.'' The Times, on Waiting for an Angel.

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A1123b25C83hHu1A5B640