Okri, Ben

Ben Okri was born into the Urhobo tribe in Minna, Nigeria, as the son of Grace and Silver Okri, but he spent his early childhood in London where his father was studying law. The family returned to Nigeria around the time of the civil war in the late 1960s. On his return to Lagos, the father offered legal aid to the poor, and since they had no money to pay his fees, he could no longer afford to keep Ben Okri at school. As of his teens, Okri taught himself what he needed to know. He read profusely and his mother told him African stories and myths.