Itoro Bassey is a Nigerian-American author and journalist based in Washington, DC. Her award-winning short stories have been published in Prairie Schooner, Catapult, and The Book Smugglers, among others. Her body of work focuses on the second-generation American experience, identity, ancestry, and migration. She is a producer and journalist at the BBC, with a special focus on highlighting US-Africa relations.

She has received fellowships from the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, the Edward Albee Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, and elsewhere. 

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Smith College in African-American Studies, with a Theatre minor, and her Masters at Marlboro Graduate Institute. 

Itoro relocated to Africa in 2018 and lived between Kenya and Nigeria for five years. Currently, she’s working on a memoir chronicling these experiences.   

She is a proud Gates Millennium Scholar and Smith alum.