She has been referred to by fans as "the most important female novelist from Nigeria after Flora Nwapa and Buchi Emecheta," according to Oyekan Owomoyela.
[3] She then graduated from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka to earn a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in English in 1977.
[1] From 1974 to 1977, Okoye went to study at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English.
[8] Okoye received prizes for both Behind the Cloud and The Village Boy from the Nigerian National Council of Art and Culture in 1983, along with earning the best fiction of the year award for the novel Men Without Ears, in 1984.
[9] In 1985, she received another award for Daily Bread after Eze at the Ife National Book Fair.