Anthonia Kalu

Anthonia Kalu is a Professor in Comparative Literature & Foreign Languages and Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of California-Riverside. She previously held roles at Ohio State University, University of Northern Colorado, and served as a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Her research focuses on African literatures, African American literature, gender studies, and globalization. Key works include Women, Literature and Development in Africa (2001), Broken Lives and Other Stories (2003), and the Rienner Anthology of African Literature (2007), which earned a ForeWord Magazine award.

Her scholarly contributions span over three decades, including leadership roles as President of the African Literature Association (ALA) and President of the Women’s Caucus of the African Literature Association (WOCALA). Awards include a Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship and Rockefeller Foundation support. She has presented globally on topics like African women’s literature, Igbo cultural theory, and postcolonial identity.

Kalu’s teaching spans undergraduate and graduate levels, emphasizing multicultural education and African diaspora studies. She has designed curricula for departments in Nigeria and the U.S., including founding the BA in Black Studies with a Multicultural Education emphasis at the University of Northern Colorado. Her current projects include an anthology Women in Contemporary African Literature and a book on language, womanhood, and social transformation.

• Awards: Ford Foundation Fellowship (1991), Rockefeller Fellowship (1992), NEH Fellowship (1993)
• Leadership: ALA President (2013-2014), ALA Board Member, ASA Board Member
• Key Themes: Feminist literary theory, Igbo cosmology, African development, oral tradition