Contact
| Dept: | ENGL |
| Email: | tjbenson@iastate.edu |
| Office: | Ross 527 Farm House Ln Ames IA 50011-1054 |
| Phone: | 515-294-2180 |
Bio
TJ Benson is a writer and visual artist from Nigeria whose work explores the body in the context of memory, Non-Abrahamic spirituality, migration, utopia and the unconscious self. His work has been exhibited and published in several journals and his Saraba Manuscript Prize shortlisted Africanfuturist collection of short stories ‘We Won’t Fade into Darkness’ was published by Parresia in 2018.
His debut novel ‘The Madhouse’ was published in 2021 by Masobe Books and Penguin Random House SA and his second novel ‘People Live Here’ was published in June 2022. He has facilitated writing workshops, more recently teaching a class on magical realism and surrealism within the context of African literature and music for Lolwe and an Inkubator workshop for Short Story Day Africa. He has attended residencies in Ebedi Nigeria, Moniack Mhor Scotland, Art Omi New York and LOATAD Ghana where he was an African Union writer-in-residence. He is a 2022 University of Iowa International Writing Program Spring Fellow, a recipient of the 2022 Prince Claus Seed Fund, the Sudkulturfond Switzerland and shortlistee of the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship. He currently lives in an apartment full of plants and is in the danger of becoming a cat person. https://tj-benson.com/