Nigerian poet Chinụa Ezenwa-Ọhaeto is set to release his debut collection The Naming with the University of Nebraska Press as part of the African Poetry Book Series on December 1, 2025.

Here’s a description of the book from the publisher:

The poetry collection explores the movements, excesses, and extremeness of existing as a postmodern individual, connecting these experiences to familial ancestry and Igbo ontology. The poems in the collection examine the various ways one is tied to their ancestors that span over 200 years by reimagining personal memories, history, kinship, homestead, memories, migration, and the intersection of the past, present, and possible future. Through this exploration, the collection seeks to rebuild a world that doesn’t just replicate realities but re-invent, enshrine, and re-story them.

Check out Ezenwa-Ohaeto reading from this collection!

Chinụa Ezenwa-Ọhaeto (@ChinuaEzenwa) lives in Lincoln, NE, where he is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a focus on creative writing (poetry). He became a runner-up in the Sparks Poetry Competition, Memorial University, Canada, 2023. In 2018, he won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize, the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (EOPP). In 2019, he was the winner of the Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize. Winner of the 2022 Special ANMIG poetry prize, organised by Centro Giovanni e Poesia di Truiggio, Italy. In 2023, he was shortlisted for Writivism Poetry Prize, the Alpine Poetry Fellowship, and a runner-up in the African and Africa American Studies Program hosted by the institute for Ethnic Studies, UNL. His works have appeared in Isele Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Oxford Poetry, Massachusetts Review, Frontier, Palette, The Common, Southword Magazine, Colorado Review, Mud Season Review, Notra Dame, Anmly, The Republic, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Ruminate and elsewhere.

The African Poetry Book Fund publishes three to four full-length collections by contemporary African poets. A member of the APBF editorial board works closely with each author in preparing each manuscript for publication. This series is published by the University of Nebraska Press. The APBF has been an important international platform for a number of African poets.

Pre-order a copy of The Naming here!