# Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude

Sophia Obiajulu Ogwude is a Nigerian Professor of English and Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts, University of Abuja, Gwagwalada.
She was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Abuja. She served as Director, Centre for General Studies at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. She was also the Director Centre for Gender Security Studies and Youth Advancement of the University of Abuja. In this capacity, she convened the First National Conference on Gender Security Studies in Nigeria. She is a past speaker at Women's International Networking conference. In 2012, Ogwude was a juror for the Nigerian Prize for Literature (Prose Fiction). She is noted as one of Nigeria's important critics.
Her writings have been reviewed by other scholars and they include publications on Bessie Head, history of prose fiction in Nigeria and agitations for more female image in African fiction. She is a member of the Nigerian Oral Literature Association (NORA). A book about her was published in 2017.

## Education

Ogwude was awarded the Bendel State Special Female Scholarship to attend the University of Nigeria in 1973. She graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1977 with a Bachelor's degree in English. She proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for a Post Graduate Diploma, earned in November, 1981. Ogwude got a Federal Government Scholarship with which she earned a Master's degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Ibadan in November, 1984. With a College of Advanced Studies, Zaria Fellowship Award, she earned a PhD in English from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in January, 1990.

## Career

Ogwude joined full-time research and teaching at tertiary level in October 1980. By 1984, she was Head of English Usage Section, Department of Languages, College of Advanced Studies, Zaria. She transferred to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri and from 1994 to 1996, she served as the Head, English Section, General Studies Division of the University. She served as Director, General Studies Division from 2002 to 2004 in the institution. From September 2008 to January, 2014, she was the Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Abuja. Ogwude served as the Director Centre Gender for Security Studies &Youth Advancement of the University from 2016 to 2018.

## Research contributions

Ogwude's PhD, completed in December 1989, was on the works of Bessie Head. Her thesis challenged prevailing views of the South African writer, transforming her from a marginalized figure with questionable political significance to a respected and relevant literary figure in apartheid South Africa. Parts of the work were published in academic journals and it was later published as a book, "Bessie Head: An Exile Writing on Home," by the Ahmadu Bello University Press in 1998.

## Membership and fellowship

She is a member of the Nigerian Oral Literature Association (NORA), Nigerian Academy of Letters, and the Literary Society of Nigeria.

## Works
### Books

* Writing the female image in African fiction
* Parables of Alienation in Modern Fiction (Owerri: Ihem Davis Publishers, 1990)
* Studies in Nigerian Fiction (Owerri: Ihem Davis Publishers, 1999)
* Recollections (poetry) (Owerri: Ihem Davis Publishers, 1999)
* Testimonies (Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2008)
* Writing the Female Image in African Literature (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 2013)

### Select academic publications

* S.O. Ogwude (1998) "Protest and Commitment in Bessie Head's Utopia"
* S.O. Ogwude (2011) "History And Ideology In Chimamanda Adichie's Fiction"
* S.O. Ogwude (1996) “Realism and Commitment in the Works of Festus Iyayi” Savanna: A Journal of the Environmental and Social Sciences, Zaria: ABU Press Vol.17, Nos1&2 June & December : 55-60.
* S.O. Ogwude (1996) "Towards Improving the Attitude of Tertiary Students to "The Use of English Course in Nigeria. Nigerian Educational Forum.13 (2) December: 221-8.
* S.O. Ogwude (1997) "The Role of Literature in ELT: An ESL Teacher's Perspective", Zaria Journal of Educational Studies Vol. 2 (1): 86-90.
* S.O. Ogwude (2000) “Okpewho’s The Victims: Victims of Art not of Fire” in E. N. Emenyonu (ed) Goat Skin Bags and Wisdom: New Critical Perspectives on Africa Literature New Jersey: African World Press: 173-181.
* S.O. Ogwude (2001) ”Achebe on the Woman Question” The Literary Griot: International Journal of Black Expressive Culture Studies Vol.13, Nos. 1&2 Spring/Fall: 62-69.