Meet Uzodinma, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala's Son Who Tied The Knot With German Lover
Last weekend, Dr Uzodinma Iweala, the first son of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, quit the bachelor's club when he married his German born lover, Lotta Elsa traditionally. Despite the fact that the traditional ceremony took place in faraway Heidelberg in Germany, his famous mother ensured that all aspects of the traditional marital rites were observed. While all of the attention focused on the mother's dancing skill with many not having seen that side of her before, as she slugged it out on the dance floor to an array of Nigerian music with her daughter inlaw, not many know that the groom is as well accomplished as his mum. Despite being a surgeon, Dr Iweala is very passionate about writing and has authored quite a number of publications including novels. He wrote the novel 'Beasts of No Nation,' which is a formation of his thesis work in creative writing at Harvard. The novel depicts a child soldier in an unnamed African country. The book, published in 2005 and adapted as an awardwinning film in 2015, was mentioned by 'Time Magazine,' 'The New York Times,' 'Entertainment Weekly,' 'The Times and Rolling Stone.' He completed a multi-year study of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the result of which became his second book, 'Our Kind of People' which was released in 2012. He later released another novel titled 'Speak No Evil,' published in 2018, which highlights the life of a gay Nigerian-American boy named Niru. A graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. A recipient of several awards and recognitions, while at Harvard, he earned the Hoopes Prize and Dorothy Hicks Lee Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis, 2004; the Eager Prize for Best Undergraduate Short Story, and the Horman Prize for Excellence in Creative Writing. In 2006, he won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award and in 2007, he was named as one of 'Granta' magazine's 20 best young American novelists. Dr Uzo is the CEO of the Africa Centre, a culture and policy institution, a museum for African art in America.