Helon Habila a former journalist from Lagos, Nigeria, won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2001. In 2002, his first novel, Waiting for An Angel: Fiction won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Novel (Africa Section) in 2003. In 2007, his second novel, Measuring Time: A Novel, won the Virginia Library Foundation’s fiction award in 2008. Habila’s third novel, Oil on Water, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2011 and the Orion Book Award in 2012. It was also a runner up for the PEN Open Book Award in 2012. In 2011, Habila edited The Granta Book of the African Short Story. He has been a contributing editor for the Virginia Quarterly Review since 2004. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.