Amarachukwu Chimeka
Amarachukwu Chimeka holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the universities of Benin and Lagos, Nigeria, and a Diplome D'etude en Langue Francais.
She was once a recepient of the University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies' Graduate Fellowship Award. She is a seasoned Copyeditor, Profreader, Copywriter, and Publisher with certifications from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (former SFEP), UK; Publishing Training Centre (former BookHouse), UK; ACES-The Society for Editing (former American Copy Editors Society), USA; and Poynter Institute (of Journalism), USA. She is also currently listed in the Publishing Qualifications Board (PQB) Directory in the UK and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders, UK, and ACES (American Copy Editors' Society), USA.
She edits and publishes books in English and Igbo, is the founder of Purple Shelves, a publishing and literacy development company, and one of the founders of The Village Square Journal.
As a literary activist, she has spearheaded several literary campaigns and book drives and actively promotes the translation of children's books into Nigerian indigenous languages. In line with the United Nations' declaration of 2020 as The Year of Indigenous Languages, she launched the #ReadIgboChallenge in July 2020 that saw an upsurge in the demand and sales of Igbo books—a challenge that caught the attention of and was promoted by BBC Ịgbo.
In 2021, she began a campaign on Twitter to place books in the hands of 1000 children in rural communities, every year. This goal was met in 52 days in 2021 within which books were sent to children in rural communities in Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Taraba states as well as three orphanage homes in Lagos. In 2022, the campaign went on to reach children in juvenile prisons and more orphanage homes with books.
She also facilitates book clubs for private schools and corporate organisations. Because of her passion for raising the next generation of readers and her love for children, she has gone on to author a series of children's books.
Amarachukwu Chimeka is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Everyday Chapter, a literary community for Gen Zs and Millennials with hubs in Ibadan, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. She is also the Corporate Social Responsibility Administrator for the recently-launched sports reality TV Show, Africa Star X.
In December 2021, she became the first non-American to win the Richard S Holden Diversity Fellowship for editors funded by the Dow Jones News Fund and the Scripps Howard Fund in the USA.
Amarachukwu has graced local and international panels in the capacity of moderator and panelist and served as judge of literary contests. In her spare time she writes movie reviews, poems, short stories, or columns for literary blogs. She has received several awards, including a Creative Intelligence Award by the Young Men and Women Creative Association.