Chigozie Mbadugha

Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha is a multiple award-winning author who wrote her first unpublished novel at the age of six. One of her poems, “The New Yam Festival,” won second prize in a nationwide poetry competition in 1983. She was the recipient of the silver prize at the Kanagawa World Biennial Children’s art competition in Japan in 1987. Chigozie's children's books "Finding Kitty" and "A Visit to Grandma and Grandpa" were finalists in the Associated of Nigerian Authors' (ANA) Children's Literature Prize in 2023 and 2020 respectively.

Her drama entry "I Should Have Been Enough" was shortlisted for the African Human Rights Play-writing Contest in 2021 and its expanded version was nominated for the 2024 Akachi Ezeigbo Prize for Drama. Her book "Rude Awakening" was selected and listed in the African Chapter of the United Nations SDG Book Club for exploring the theme of Gender Equality (SDG 5). Her short story "Breaking Chains" about female genital mutilation was a finalist in the debut Nwamaka Okoye Literature Prize in May 2024.

By profession, Chigozie is an ophthalmic surgeon and an avid researcher. She draws inspiration from God and from the love of her family.