Ben Okri OBE FRSL (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and novelist. Okri has become the leading figure of his generation of Nigerian writers who have largely abandoned the social and historical themes of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...

, and brought together modernist narrative strategies and Nigerian oral and literary tradition.
Ben Okri is a member of the Urhobo people

Urhobo people

The Urhobo are people of southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger River delta. The Urhobo is the major ethnic group in Delta State; the Delta State is one of the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They speak Urhobo, a language in Niger–Congo group...

. He was born in Minna

Minna

Minna is a city in west central Nigeria. It's the capital of Niger State, one of Nigeria's 36 federal states, and is the headquarters of Chanchaga Local Government Area.- Geography :...

 in west central Nigeria to Grace and Silver Okri in 1959.