His most recent novel, Lost Ark Dreaming, is set in a futuristic world where coastal West African countries have been submerged underwater, leaving only five towers as the last remnants of civilization. Survivors live in these towers, forming new societies that must adapt to a transformed world.
For Okungbowa, ideas are endless — they’re built from gaps in the everyday and from long-standing fascinations. The idea for Lost Ark Dreaming came about as he imagined what it would look like if his home country of Nigeria flooded. He asked himself crucial questions like what the future of Lagos would be in 50 or 100 years, how people would be living then and whether they would develop better systems or perpetuate current ones.
The inspiration for Okungbowa’s speculative fiction, whether it be science fiction, fantasy or broader works of imagination, comes from the stories he grew up with in Nigeria. In his childhood, stories often blended fantasy with the real world, leading him to think about reality in a tangential way and to use his imagination for problem-solving. As Okungbowa puts it, storytelling became a method for him to “troubleshoot our existence in order to figure out better ways to be human.”
Okungbowa also draws on his background in science to build his fictional worlds. He completed a bachelor’s degree in engineering and worked briefly in this field before transitioning to a career in writing. His training and work in road and bridge construction taught him to apply scientific thinking to the creative process. This mindset became a core element of his storytelling, enabling him to craft narratives that explore new ways of being and existing.
By the time he decided to pursue an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arizona, he had already published his debut novel, David Mogo, Godhunter. The story follows a demigod who exterminates rogue deities in Lagos. The novel merges myth with the modern cityscape. Though Okungbowa primarily writes for an adult audience, he has also authored works for younger readers, including The Haven Trials, a Minecraft novel; Lucas on the Line, a young adult novel inspired by the popular TV show Stranger Things; and The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, appearing in April 2025 in conjunction with Marvel’s Black Panther series.
Best known for his novels, Okungbowa has also published over 30 short stories and essays that have appeared in top international anthologies and periodicals. His short fiction differs from his novels, often crossing genres and adopting a more literary approach. While his novels lean heavily into epic narratives, his short fiction is fluid, experimental and varied in form.
Currently, Okungbowa is writing a novel that tells the story of a family line marked by a gift (or a curse, depending on your perspective). Spanning generations and geographies, the story follows the family from pre-colonial Nigeria through the different tentacles they spread across the world, including southern Ontario in the 1970s, England in the 2000s and the American Southwest in the 2010s. Part of this work entails researching southern Ontario’s railroad towns and the lives of immigrants in these communities to understand how history, identity and family shape individuals across time.
Professor Okungbowa’s storytelling yields powerful works that challenge readers to imagine what the future could hold for people of African descent. Through his writing, he invites us to not only explore new worlds but also consider new ways of thinking about our own.