JJ Amaworo Wilson (OQ, 1980-87) is an author of international repute. His writing has been widely acclaimed by literary critics and been recognised with many prestigious awards. He is an authority on language and language learning and a respected writer of non-fiction and poetry.

JJ has written over a dozen books about language and language learning, two of which won the English Speaking Union Award for Best Book for Teachers that saw him honoured at Buckingham Palace in 2008 and 2011. When receiving the award from the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace in 2008, the Duke asked JJ about his tie. JJ replied, “It’s my old school tie: Queen’s College, Taunton.” His textbooks in this field have sold half a million copies.

Educators in many parts of the world have asked him to talk to them about language learning and, as a result, he has visited about 70 countries to do so. Born in Germany, he spent most of his youth in the UK but, after finishing at university, he has lived in Egypt, Lesotho, Colombia, Italy, Spain, Brazil and the US. Currently, he is writer-in-residence at Western New Mexico University. He also teaches on Stonecoast’s MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine, and is co-chair of Southwest Word Fiesta.

His fiction, essays and poetry have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, including IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain, African American Journal, Justice Journal, The New York Journal of Books, Electric Literature, and Afrobeat, among others.

JJ’s first novel, Damnificados, was published in 2016. It won four major awards, was nominated for an American Book Award, was named a Top 10 book in ‘O’, the Oprah Winfrey magazine, and translated into French and German. Last year, his second novel, Nazaré, appeared and has been extremely well received.

Both are examples of fabulist fiction, distinguished by the inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements as if factually true. The heroes of both tales are ordinary people who show courageous leadership in extraordinary circumstances. Both stories focus on the plight of the oppressed and the dispossessed.

For JJ, literature has been a key feature of his life. His father wrote a series of children’s books, called Adventures with Jeremy James, using his son’s name for the title character. His love of storytelling developed at Queen’s. There, his vivid imagination and talent with words was evident in stories such as 'A Gothic Tale' published in the Wyvern in 1984. He took English, History and Politics at A Level before going to the University of Edinburgh to study History of Art and English Literature, in which he gained his BA and then his MA.

In his free time, JJ plays numerous ball sports. At Queen’s, he excelled on the sports fields. He played for the first team in rugby, hockey and cricket. He was a member of the U15s team that won the national Lord’s Taverners’ trophy in 1983 and he played junior international rugby for England in 1985 against Holland, Italy and Portugal (photo). He finished his school career as Head Boy.