Nigerian writer and performer Iquo DianaAbasi has graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama!

DianaAbasi is the author of Èfó Rírò and Other Stories (2020) and the poetry collection Symphony of Becoming, which was shortlisted for the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, the ANA Poetry Prize, and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature.

Now with an MFA, DianaAbasi reflected on the milestone in an email to Brittle Paper. She shared that the final semester was filled with intensity and determination. “As the Spring 2025 semester hurtled to an end, my major preoccupation was defending my thesis, so that I could graduate,” she wrote. Though the MFA is a terminal degree, she initially viewed it as another finish line—much like her first degree in human resource management, earned fifteen years ago. But a student spotlight by the Creative Writing Program helped shift her perspective.

“Answering the spotlight questions reminded me of how much work I had done in the past six semesters, how my sensibilities had developed, how I had embraced teaching, and the different readings I took part in,” she wrote. “How I broke out of my comfort zone and presented creative and academic work at conferences, then published an academic paper.”

Returning to school in her 40s brought both excitement and vulnerability. “I may have started out feeling like an impostor in my first few weeks in grad school,” she admitted, “but I finished strong and happy that I explored so many things while the program lasted.”

The graduation ceremony, held on May 2, 2025, at Coleman Coliseum, was a quiet moment of personal triumph. “I was not giddy as I dressed up in graduation gear,” she recalled, “but as I walked on to the stage, all I wanted was for the announcer to call my name right.”

That moment came with pride and meaning. “I didn’t want to hear ‘AI-QUO’ or ‘OBOE’, like my family name is a string instrument,” she wrote. “I am Ibibio and DianaAbasi is no goddess of the hunt, but an admonition to be close to Abasi; the Almighty Creator.” When the announcer got it right, she walked across the stage with a smile, shaking hands with the Dean and the President, aware that her children and friends were in the audience cheering her on.

“I had done it,” she wrote. “Iquo DianaAbasi Obot, Adiaha Akwa Ibom had earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama. It’s never too late to pursue education, and I’m glad I didn’t let age stop me.”

Congratulations to Iquo DianaAbasi on this achievement — thank you for being an inspiration! See more photos from her graduation below!