Born in the city of
Enugu, southeastern part of
Nigeria, Udechukwu is the daughter of an
Igbo father and an
American mother. When the Eastern part of Nigeria attempted to break out of Nigeria to form what was called the Republic of Biafra, this led to a civil war in Nigeria which was generally called the
Biafran war of 1967–70. Due to the war, she and her siblings took refuge in Michigan USA with their mother while their father stayed back in Nigeria. They remained in Michigan until 1971, a year after the end of the
Biafran War. She studied under the author
Chinua Achebe, earning her bachelor's degree in
English and literature at the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She began to paint on fabric, painting designs on clothing using a restrained linear style. Udechukwu is one of the few women artists associated with the
Nsukka group In 1997, at the height of Nigeria's military dictatorship, her husband, the artist
Obiora Udechukwu, accepted a teaching position at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. Together with their daughter, Ijeanuli, and son, Nwora, the couple left Nigeria for America, where they have been living ever since. was published by Boomerang Press (1993). Her short story "Night Bus" was published in the Fiction Issue of the journal
The Atlantic (August 2006). She also published a children's book,
Herero, in 1995. ==References==