BIO

Gazelle Mba is an award-winning Nigerian writer. She is interested in the relationship between history and memory, exploring its effects on both individual and collective consciousness. Her other subjects include but are not limited to literature, art, design, photography, politics, fashion and film.

She received her BA in English literature from the University of Oxford, her MPhil in Criticism and Culture from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Writing from the Royal College of Art. She was awarded the Wade-White Scholarship at Oxford after her first year of undergrad, the Benson-Carslow scholarship at Cambridge, and she won the RCA Writing Prize in 2024. She was twice commended in the Foyles Young Poet Award and won the Lancaster Young Writers Award.

She was chosen by the poets Sandeep Parmar and Sarah Howe as a Ledbury Poetry Critic in 2021. She has read her work at SHOWSTUDIO, the gallery established by famed photographer Nick Knight and has spoken at the Duke’s Cultural and Economic Summit, a gathering of dignitaries and distinguished speakers discussing how Nigeria’s cultural exports can serve as a force for economic growth.

Her work has been published in esteemed titles such as the London Review of Books, The World of Interiors, The British Journal of Photography, Frieze, Dazed, Booker Prize Foundation and elsewhere. She moonlights as a creative consultant, bringing her incisive, research- driven practice and distinctive cultural orientation to bear on projects with select clients. She is currently working on a narrative non-fiction book about Nigerian nostalgia.

GAZELLE MBA