Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is an award-winning Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist. His work explores themes of African queer identity, resistance, and liberation. His debut novel, And Then He Sang a Lullaby, was shortlisted for the 2023 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prose Prize and the 2023 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Debut Fiction. It also won the inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature, the 2024 Edmund White Award for debut fiction , and was the Gold Winner for the 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Award (Literary Fiction).
His short stories, poems and essays have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.