Dike Okoro, Professor Emeritus, is formerly Chairperson of the Humanities Department at Harris Stowe State University. He is currently engaged in a two-year senior research fellow position with the Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation. His awards and recognition include a Newberry Scholar-in-Residence Award, and a Sam Walton Fellowship. He is the author of Futurism and the African Imagination: Literature and Other Arts (2021), Mazisi Kunene: Literature, Activism, and African Worldview (2023), and Lupenga Mphande: Ecocritical Poet/Political Activist (2020). He studied English and poetry, and obtained his MFA from Chicago State University and his PhD in English from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He is also a literary critic/essayist and has edited anthologies of African poetry and short stories. He is the editor of We Have Cross Many Rivers: New Poetry from Africa, which was shortlisted by Human Rights Careers Magazine (UK) as one of 5 Vocal Human Rights Poetry Books inspiring change