Nneoma Ike-Njoku, PhD, was born in Lagos, Nigeria. A MacDowell Fellow, she was commissioned in 2022 to create an original short story for the Newman Wetlands Center, and is the recipient of a Betty Trask Award, as well as grants and residencies from Kimbilio, the Miles Morland Foundation, and Millay Arts, among others. She received her BA in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, where she studied literature, mathematics, and music, her MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University, and her PhD in English Literature from the University of Georgia. The Water House is her first novel.