“a discourse on the politics of marriage between science and voodoo.” -The NLNG Judges 2023

“American Actors” — Winner of the James T. Whitehead Award for Fiction

“This story was a pleasure to read each time I went through it… but the author has gone off into a fictional world I haven’t quite ever encountered before and is doing wonderful things there. If there’s such a thing as a 15-page picaresque, this is it—the narrator and his friends stumble from adventure to adventure in a highly vivid landscape via which the reader is introduced to everything from the sublime to the screwball comic to the just plain weird. The language and the pacing are electric. There were so many great lines… The story was a truly distinct exercise in both pathos and humor, constantly shifting gears on the fly, and, as I said, was just a pleasure to read.” — Keith Lee Morris (Judge)

“Voicemail” — Winner of the James T. Whitehead Award for Fiction

“I was so impressed with how this story showed Chuka’s sense of self not as a static or monolithic thing, but as shifting with his awareness of how others perceive him. The narrative turns were surprising and exciting, and I loved the limits of the character’s self-awareness. I
couldn’t stop thinking about this story!” — Katya Apekina (Judge)

“A Yahoo Dance” — Winner of the Lily Peter Fellowship in Fiction

“…The story masterfully sets the scene, beginning with an engaging collective first-person and gradually zooming into the narrator’s perspective. The smaller details, the little moments, set up unforgettably haunting lines… This is a fully-realized world, which makes the characters and events all the more heart-rending.” –Jon Hickey (Judge)

“Voicemail” — Winner of the Walton Family and Carolyn F. Walton Cole Fellowship in Fiction

“…Chuka’s voice is unique, incisive, at once intimate and expansive, unsparing and ironic. Born of the scars of a nation, it challenges and upsets, leaving a lasting mark on the readers. At times lustful, at times harrowing, the story has a deep sense of searching, without apology yet with ferocity, for what might become a meaningful life. Something too close to the heart is happening on the page.” –Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry (Judge)