Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Sandra Jackson-Opoku is author of the American Library Association Black Caucus award-winning novel, The River Where Blood is Born and Hot Johnny and the Women Who Loved Him, an Essence Magazine Bestseller in Hardcover Fiction.

Her fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic works are widely published and produced. They appear in Both Sides: Stories from the Border, story South, Another Chicago Magazine, New Daughters of Africa, Novus Literary Journal, Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and other outlets. She also coedited the multi-arts anthology, Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks.

Jackson-Opoku’s work has won a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Fellowship, Newcity Lit50: Who Really Books in Chicago, an Esteemed Literary Artist Award from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Lifeline Theatre BIPOC Adaptation Showcase, the Globe Soup Open Story Award, an Institute for Writers Thrillers First Pages Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and other awards and honors.

Sandra Jackson-Opoku has taught creative writing at Columbia College Chicago, the University of Chicago, the University of Miami, and Chicago State University. She presents workshops, readings, and literary presentations in schools, libraries, and arts organizations worldwide.