Ibrahim grew up on his grandmother’s storytelling of African folklore and thus fell in love with stories and, by extension, literature. He picked up his first James Hadley Chase novel at 8, and for the love of stories, he was done with both the Quran and the Bible by the time he was 10. After he was forcibly sent to science class in high school, however, it took him 20 years to find his way back to his passion in 2019, when he left a successful ten-year career in media and entertainment to become a writer.

In that time, his work has been published (or forthcoming) in Transition Magazine, Typehouse Magazine, JMWW, Ake Review, Zone 3, Brittle Paper, Landlocked Magazine, Popula, and more. Ibrahim won the Quramo Writers' Prize (2022) and was a runner-up for the Jessica George Bursary (2023), the Goge Africa Writing Contest (2020), and the Ibua Journal's Pack Light series (2020). He was a finalist for the FAB Prize (2023), the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship (2022), a Masters Review anthology prize (2023), and twice for the Moon City Short Fiction Award (2022 and 2023). He has also been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (2022), the Laura Kinsella Fellowship (2022), and the Dzanc Diverse Voices Prize (2021). He has multiple nominations for both the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net. In July 2022, he was named Writer of the Month by Brittle Paper. He is endorsed by Arts Council England for his ‘writing exceptionalism’.

Ibrahim has volunteered with several literary organizations, including Bodega Magazine, Ayamba Litcast, Lumiere Review, OkadaBooks, and Rare Swan Press. In 2020, he sat on the jury of a writing competition for kids aged 7–12, organized by the REEL Foundation. After the competition, he edited an anthology of the best stories. This was published in 2021 by Artmosterific.

Before writing happened, Ibrahim served as a channel manager at Nigezie, the first 24-hour music and lifestyle channel in Nigeria, as well as general manager at both Euphoric Heritage Records and Aquila Records, where he helped with the music careers of talents like Tillaman, Tekno, Base One, and Airboy, among others. Between 2010 and 2018, he also worked as a publicist for brands like Samklef, Olamide, Orezi, Magnito, Do2dtun, Reloaded Magazine, and so on.

Ibrahim presently serves as an editor and talent liaison at the Journal of African Youth Literature. He also sits on the advisory board of Witsprouts Anthologies. You can connect with him at @heemthewriter on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Medium, and @writtenbyheem on Instagram and Threads. More information about Ibrahim can be found at HEEM, the Writer and Linktree.