[1] Born in Nawfia-Awka, a village near the Igbo city of Onitsha in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria, Nwankwo attended University College in Ibadan (the capital city of Oyo State, southwest Nigeria), gaining a BA in 1962.
[2] After graduating he took a teaching job at Ibadan Grammar School, before going on to write for magazines, including Drum and working for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
[5] Writer of short stories and poems, Nwankwo gained significant attention with his first novel Danda (1964),[6] which was made into a widely performed musical that was entered in the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.
[4] After the civil war, he returned to Lagos and worked on the national newspaper, the Daily Times.
[10] He died in his sleep in Tennessee, from complications from a heart imbalance that he had been battling for some years.