Obinna C. Obilo
Writer, public speaker, and author of the newly-released Memories of the Future (2020) and the previously published Within This Welded Spirit (2004).
Obinna's poetry and writing touches on a host of ethno- and socioeconomic constructs and readily explores the intersectionalities of Blackness and African identities in an evolving geopolitical context.
Obinna's voice is noteworthy, especially in a time that cries out for nuance but often leaves minimal space for layered discourse.
Memories of the Future (2020)
“Obinna Chimaobim Obilo gives us intimate snapshots of a speaker—like his world—in the midst of tectonic flux, ‘equal parts focused, lost, inspired, fearful, faithful.’ These words artifact what simmers beneath the composed veneer of resilience, finding (and losing) oneself, the kind of relentless shape-shifting across place, culture, and consciousness that Obilo’s life has demanded. More than anything, this book maps out a blueprint of how to paradoxically surrender to and insist toward the life one was always meant to live.”
Carlos Andrés Gómez
Author of Fractures (Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry), Hijito (Broken River Prize, Foreward INDIES Gold Model), and Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood.
"Obinna Obilo has the rare ability to take everyday reality and drape it in the stark beauty of the English language. He is a writer's writer!"
Sonya Renee Taylor
Author, poet, spoken word artist, speaker, humanitarian and social justice activist, educator, and founder of The Body is Not An Apology movement.