His first novel, 47th Street Black (Random House/Crown, 2003), received both the Washington Prize for Fiction and the Great American Book Award. Ojikutu's short fiction has appeared in the 2005 Akashic Press anthology Chicago Noir and the Other Voices literary journal. Crown Books released his second novel, Free Burning, to considerable critical acclaim in 2006.
Ojikutu has taught creative writing with DePaul University and in the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago.