Vanessa Onwuemezi is a writer living in London. She is the winner of the White Review Short Story Prize in 2019 and her work has appeared in literary and art magazines, including Granta, Frieze and Prototype. Her debut story collection, Dark Neighbourhood, was published in 2021 and was named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of 2021. It was shortlisted for both the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Edge Hill Prize in 2022. Her short story Green Afternoon was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2022.

In response to the high number of outstanding candidates for the Library’s annual Visiting Fellowship program, the Selection Committee has created the Scholar of Note distinction to acknowledge particularly exceptional applicants. The distinction was founded in 2022.

The Scholar of Note program is made possible through the generous support of The de Groot Foundation.