Nnadi Samuel

Nnadi Samuel (born 4 May) is a Nigerian poet based in Lagos. He is author of the poetry chapbook Nature Knows A Little about Slave Trade, and his works have appeared in many poetry journals and magazines.

Early life and education

Nnadi grew up in Ikotun, Lagos. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literature from the University of Benin in 2019.

Writing career

Nnadi started writing in 2018, but began submitting to magazines and journal in early 2020. The same year, his first chapbook, Reopening of Wounds, was published in Nigeria.

Nnadi's works have been published in many reputable mediums including Poetry Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, New Orleans Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Descant, Suburban Review, River Heron Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Lunaris Review, Quarterly West, Nonbinary Review, The Capilano Review, Gutter Magazine, Fourteen Hills, Rough Cut Press, Lolwe, Uncanny, The Quill, Agbówo, among others.

In 2023, Nnadi was announced as the winner of 2023 John Newlove Poetry Award and the 2022 Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award. His poem "A Boneyard of Flesh//Post-War Trauma" was also adjudged winner of the 2022 Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award. He also won the 2023 Virginia Tech Center for Refugee, Migrants and Displacement Studies Annual Award. In 2022, he was the winner of the 2022 River Heron Editors' Prize with his poem "Who Killed Davey Moore?", and the 2022 Angela C. Mankiewicz Poetry Contest. Nnadi has also won the 2020 Open Drawer Contest, the 2021 Miracle Monocle Award for Ambitious Student Writers, the 2021 Penrose Poetry Prize, the 2021 Lakefly Poetry Contest, the 2021 International Human Rights Art Festival Award, and the 2021 Falun Gong Poetry Prize. He was the second prize winner for both the 2022 The Bird in Your Hands Contest, and the 2022 MONO. Poetry Prize; as well as the bronze winner for the 2022 Creative Future Writer's Award. He also received an honorable mention for the 2022 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest and the 2021. Nnadi is a seven times Pushcart nominee.

Reviewing Nature Knows A Little About Slave Trade in The Republic, the Nigerian critic Ancci recognises Nnadi's poetic distinction. The conclusion of the review reads:

"From such poets as Nome Patrick Emeka to Samuel Adeyemi, the bulk of new Nigerian poetry is characterized by self-expression. Although while embedded in the same literary culture, Samuel's temperament cannot be so provincially defined. His poetry, taken together, is an expansion of our new poetry for the straightforward but nonetheless interesting reason that he seems to have found a distinctive way of articulating his personal, if sometimes imagined, history while, at the same time, effusing their universal contexts quite decisively and seamlessly."