Blessing O. Nwodo

About her

Blessing O. Nwodo

is a Toronto-based, multidisciplinary storyteller and feminist activist. Her work spans a diverse range of mediums, including immersive art exhibitions, documentaries, films, sonic storytelling, and published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

She seamlessly blends creative expression with professional expertise, showcasing her versatility as a communications professional skilled in digital marketing management, copywriting, technical writing, and editing.

Her work has won the 2016 Nigerian Travel Story Prize, been shortlisted for the 2021 Toyin Fálọlá Prize, the 2021 African Writers Awards for Creative Non-Fiction, and the 2019 Lost Balloon Pushcart Prize for Speculative Fiction.

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she also holds an MFA from the University of Guelph, and served as Editor of its Magazine. She is a graduate of Education and English from the University of Nigeria, where she was honored as the Best Female Writer of 2017.

She has been awarded the City of Toronto’s Pam McConnell award, Constance Rooke Award and was featured on the WIGLEAF TOP 50 Writers of 2020 longlist. Her work has been published in This Magazine, Humber Review, ArtsEverywhere, Brittle Paper, Women’s Media Center (FBOMB), Kalahari Review, The Common, Out of Office Gal, 100 words Africa, and elsewhere. She is an Amplify and RRR Fellow, and has judged the Cradle Poetry Contest.

Her Netflix-presented social commentary documentary, Dreaming In The West, has received widespread acclaim, earning prominent placements at numerous film festivals across Canada, including but unlimited to Toronto Black Film Festival, Ottawa Film festival, Halifax Film Festival, Vancouver film festival, Montreal Film Festival, Calgary Film Festival, etc. It is forthcoming on CBC Gem.

Blessing has worked as a librettist, creating Operas for Opera de Montreal, Musique3Femmes, Pacific Opera Victoria, etc. She has given lectures at Concordia University, Guelph-Humber, Clark Centre for the Arts, University of Guelph, Story Planet, and others. She has undertaken exhibitions in collaboration with Geary Art Crawl, FLIP, OCAD University, BodyShop Studios, Making with Place, etc.

When she’s not relishing fashion, she can often be found pulverizing the patriarchy. She is working on a collection of speculative fiction, and a novel.

Activism Snippets