PROFILE: Sefi Atta

 By Victor Olubiye

Sefi Atta (born 19 January 1964) is a Nigerian-American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her books have been translated into many languages, her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC, and her stage plays have been performed internationally. Awards she has received include the 2006 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.

Atta was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in January 1964, to a family of five children. Her father Abdul-Aziz Atta was the Secretary to Federal Government and Head of the Civil Service until his death in 1972, and she was raised by her mother Iyabo Atta. 

She attended Queen's College, Lagos, and Millfield School in England. In 1985, she graduated with a B.A. degree from Birmingham University. She qualified as a chartered accountant in England and as CPA in the United States, where she migrated in 1994. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2001. 

She is married to Gboyega Ransome-Kuti, a medical doctor, and son of Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, and they have one child, named Temi. 

Atta graduated from the creative writing program at Antioch University in Los Angeles. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals such as The Los Angeles Review, Mississippi Review and World Literature Today. She has also written essays, and her articles on Lagos and Nigeria have appeared in publications such as Time and Libération. Her books have been translated into several languages. Her first novel, Everything Good Will Come, won the inaugural Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2006. She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby. 

Atta's Lagos-based production company Atta Girl supports Care to Read, a programme she initiated to earn funds for legitimate charities through staged readings.