Uwem Akpan is a Nigerian writer. He is best known as the author of Say You're One of Them (2008), a collection of five stories, each set in a different African country, published by Little, Brown & Company. This debut book achieved international success. It won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region), the PEN Open Book Prize, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was selected for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club. It became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal No. 1 bestseller and has been translated into 12 languages.

Akpan's second book and debut novel, New York, My Village (2021), was published by W. W. Norton. The book was chosen by Strand Bookstore as their Pick of the Month for November 2021.

Born in Ikot Akpan Eda in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, Uwem's short stories and autobiographical pieces have appeared in special editions of The New Yorker, The Oprah Magazine, Hekima Review, The Nigerian Guardian, America, and others. Say You’re One of Them made the “Best of the Year” list in People magazine, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. The New York Times named it an Editor’s Choice, and Entertainment Weekly listed it at #27 in their Best of the Decade.