By: Olumide Afolase
Much is made about multipotentialites and professionals who have mastered multiple careers, however, very few people actually walk the talk. A lot of people prioritise posturing over making actual impact, but that’s not the case for Jerry Chiemeke, Nigerian lawyer, writer, communications specialist, film critic and journalist. Over the course of a decade, the 32-year-old has delved into, and triumphed in, several fields of endeavour.
I stumbled on one of his personal essays, published on his Medium page a few months ago, and I was so moved by his penmanship that I decided to surf the internet to consume more of his work. What I found was a contradiction of sorts: there were several links and articles to his name, as well as multiple feats, yet there was no real spotlight on his work from Nigeria’s mainstream art community. I decided to do some research, scrape what I could from the web, and also reach out to him for a chat; thankfully he was active on X (formerly Twitter). It’s always tricky attempting a profile of a talented creative, but I couldn’t pass up trying to give a genius his flowers.
Jerry Chiemeke was born on 1st May, 1991 at Warri, Delta State to Stephen Chiemeke Snr. (a civil servant at the Federal Ministry of Environment) and the late Veronica Chiemeke (a teacher). The second child of his parents, he was exposed to books early in his childhood by his father, who stuffed the family library with the works of Chinua Achebe, H. Rider-Haggard, Charles Dickens, Cyprian Ekwensi, James Hardley Chase, S.M.O Aka and Christopher Okigbo. He also had an affinity with Film, thanks to his elder brother who would go to the video rentals at Ugborikoko to borrow VHS cassette tapes of movies featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan, Cynthia Rothrock and Sean Connery.
Chiemeke had his secondary school education between 2001 and 2007 at Lumen Christi International High School, Uromi, Edo State where he was an active member of the school’s Press club, never finished a term below the top three positions in class, and was appointed Library Prefect in his senior year. He stunned his parents and teachers when he decided to switch to Art class in his penultimate year – he had excelled in Maths and Chemistry, so it was assumed that he would study Medicine – but he stuck to his guns.
In late 2007, Chiemeke gained admission to study Law at the University of Benin. While there, he was an active member of the faculty’s congress, and also had time to lead the Catholic Law Students’ Association. In 2012, he graduated with a Second Class (Upper Division), and the following year, he was called to the Nigerian Bar after completing his sojourn at the Nigerian Law School. He would ultimately pivot to a career in Media, Marketing and Communications in 2019, and since his big switch, he has collaborated with some of Nigeria’s leading media brands and financial institutions, including Multichoice, Paga, ID Africa, Alat by Wema, HipTV, Nigerian Idol, Big Brother Naija, and United Capital Plc.
Chiemeke had begun to show his flair for (long-form) writing in his undergraduate days, with regular exciting sketches on his Facebook page, but it was in April 2013 that he launched his WordPress blog, where he would write short stories. In an episode of the Writers’ Sauce Podcast in 2023, he revealed that he had opened the blog to get over a heartbreak he suffered in law school.
By the end of 2014, Chiemeke had grown a huge following on his blog, and he joined a community of writers on Facebook, honing his craft by participating in flash fiction contests and intensive writing challenges. In early 2016, his short stories were accepted for publication in The Kalahari Review and Brittlepaper.
But roses soon gave way to thistles and weeds as Chiemeke began to struggle with long bouts of depression, and by December 2016 he had been medically diagnosed. It was in this state of disillusionment, which he said “changed everything about how I saw and approached existence”, that he wrote his first manuscript, The Colours In These Leaves, self-published digitally in June 2017. The book is a hybrid of personal essays and poetry that explores mental health, loss, and ill-fated romance.
After a well-received Facebook post critiquing a Nollywood movie, Chiemeke spent most of 2017 writing reviews of African books and feature films. He ran a book review column on Bellanaija and a film review column on Loladeville. In November 2017, he fended off fierce competition to win that year’s Ken Saro Wiwa Prize, presented at the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF).
The two years that followed were quite eventful for Chiemeke, who got published in several foreign literary journals including Inlandia, Kissing Dynamite Poetry, Nightingale & Sparrow, Moonchild Magazine and Honey & Lime, among others. He was shortlisted for the 2019 Diana Woods Memorial Award for Creative Nonfiction, and in October 2019 he received the Connect Nigeria Writers’ Award for his contribution to the country’s literary space. He released a digital chapbook of love poems titled Notes for Nnedimma, but it made poor sales. Reflecting on the poor commercial reception, he said “the lady who inspired the chapbook didn’t like that the title bore another woman’s name.”
In October 2020, Chiemeke published Dreaming Of Ways To Understand You, his collection of short stories. The book has been a critical and commercial success, drawing praise for its “captivating and smoothly flowing narrative” as well as its “immersive prose.”
In 2021 Chiemeke picked up his critic’s hat again, writing colums for publications like Netng, The Lagos Review, Olongo Africa, and The Africa Report. He was also the pioneering editor-in-chief at Afrocritik, one of the continent’s leading media publications that focuses on culture and entertainment. He has since been selected to represent Nigeria at some of the world’s biggest film festivals, including Sundance, Berlinale, Blackstar Film Festival in Philadelphia, and the Durban International Film Festival. In October 2022, he moved to the United Kingdom on the Global Talent Visa, following an endorsement by the Arts Council England.
Chiemeke’s personal experiences and emotions are the fodder of his art. He has been criticised for “not paying much attention to style, but he has always reiterated that he prioritises heart over lexis. His work touches on impermanence, introspection, the lyricality of the human condition, and the intricacies of love and loss.
He also has a knack for sharing knowledge, buoyed by his desire to “give people an easier access to the doors I had to kick so hard to walk into.” Since 2020 he has been a mentor at the SprinNg Writing Fellowship (dedicated to developing and providing opportunities for aspiring African writers), and since 2022 he has been a faculty member at the IN Nollywood Film Journalism Fellowship (an initiative committed to harnessing the potential of emerging African film critics and journalists.)
Chiemeke has had to deal with being feted abroad while ignored at home, but it’s hoped that History will be kind to this maverick. The causes he cares for include children’s rights, literacy, and mental health awareness.
and then