On July 14, the advisory board for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, led by Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, announced an initial list of 11 books for the the 2016 contest.
The $100,000 prize rotates yearly among four genres: fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. This year’s edition is focusing on prose-fiction.
The “first 11” books, chosen from 173 books, were entries from well-known and first-time Nigerian novelists at home and in the Diaspora. The judges were led by Prof. Dan Izevbaye, a literary critic and a professor of English Language; Prof Asabe Usman Kabir and Prof Isidore Diala, first winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism. The winning entries are expected to be announced in October, in commemoration of the company’s first LNG export in 1999 .
CHIKA UNIGWE is an award-winning short story writer and the author of two novels written in Dutch. Her book, Night Dancer (2014), is on this year’s shortlist. It is the story of Mma, who is in a desperate search for her root. Her book, On Black Sisters’ Street, published by Jonathan Cape in 2009, won the prize in 2012. Unigwe is a judge for the 2017 Manbooker Prize.
EL-NATHAN JOHN is a past contender for the Nigeria Prize for Literature. His work, Born On A Tuesday, on this year’s shortlist explores brotherhood, religious fundamentalism, and turbulent periods in contemporary Northern Nigeria. John was shortlisted twice for the Caine Prize for African Writing (2013 and 2015). His writing has been published in Per Contra, Evergreen Review and Chimurenga’s Chronic. He is a 2015 Civitella Ranieri Fellow.
IFEOMA OKOYE, 79 years old, is an award-winning writer and academic. She is on the list with her The Fourth World. The book focuses on Chira (18) and her attempt to escape the deprivations and tragedies of her life in the shanty slum of Enugu’s Kasanga Avenue. Her works, Behind the Clouds and The Village Boy earned her prizes from the Nigerian National Council of Art and Culture (NCAC) in 1983, along with her being the best fiction of the year award for the novel, Men Without Ears, in 1984. In 1985, she received another award for Daily Bread after Eze at the Ife National Book Fair. She was also the African Regional winner for the Commonwealth Short Story Competition in 1999.
ABUBAKAR ADAM IBRAHIM, writer and journalist, is on the list with Season of Crimson Blossoms that captures the angst and dysfunction that are contemporary to Nigerian history and the story Binta. His debut, a short story collection, The Whispering Trees, was ‘longlisted’ for the Etisalat Prize for Prose and the title story was shortlisted for the prestigious Caine prize for African Writing. He has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the Amatu Braide Prize for Prose and has also been awarded the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellowship and the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship. He has been named in the Hay Festival Africa39 list of the most promising African Writers South of the Sahara under the age of 40, who will define future trends in African writing.
Widely-acclaimed writer SEFI ATTA is on the list with her work: A Bit of Difference, which follows the story of 39-year-old single lady, Deola, from London to her home in Nigeria where she meets the charming Wale. In 2006, her debut, Everything Good Will Come, was awarded the inaugural Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Her short stories have also won prizes from Zoetrope and Red Hen Press. Her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC. She is the winner of PEN International’s 2004/2005 David TK Wong Prize. Her short story collection, Lawless, received the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.
ARAMIDE SEGUN is on the list with her novel, Eniitan. Her debut, The Third Dimple, won her the Association of Nigerian Authors Prose Prize and was shortlisted for Commonwealth First Book Prize. Segun enjoys charcoal drawing and painting portraits in her spare time. Her works explore complex themes usually laced with romance. Eniitan x-rays the bronze albino woman in her early 20s and the complexities societal prejudices, love, politics and more.
OGOCHUKWU PROMISE is a novelist, playwright, poet and essayist with over 18 novels. She is founder and coordinator of the Lumina Foundation, which instituted the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Promise, a two-time contender for NLNG-sponsored prize, is on the shortlist with her book Sorrow’s Joy. The novel is a compelling tale on the onslaught of cancer and courage required to face it. Promise has received seven Association of Nigerian Authors’ (ANA) awards for her fiction and poetry. She also expresses herself in abstract painting. She is an Azikiwe Fellow, Fellow of Stiftung Kulturfonds and the Iowa International writing programme. She holds a Ph.D in Communication and Language Arts.
MANSIM CHUMAH OKAFOR is on the shortlist with The Parable of the Lost Shepherds. The novel highlights the temptations of an otherwise good priest, the intrigues of his protective bishop, the push back by some determined nuns, and an outcome worth every ounce of faith in the Divine. Okafor has also written Chinelo (Forth Dimension Publishers); Elma: This Will Heal the World (Createspace), Chinua Achebe, The Art of Fiction and a Bottle of Guinness (a tribute to Chinua Achebe).
MARYAM AWAISU, a radio presenter in Kaduna, is a survivor of sickle cell anaemia. Her first novel, Burning Bright, is on the shortlist. The disease did not stop her from getting an education, both in Nigeria and abroad, and earning a degree in business administration. She is a volunteer at Sickle Cell Foundation in Kaduna, providing services to Nigerians, who cannot afford necessary treatment. The Burning Bright is set within the complexities of Nigerian culture. It is the story of an over-achieving young lady, who is determined not to let sickle cell anaemia stand in her way and young people trying to make their way in a world they didn’t make.
Like Awaisu, IFEOLUWA ADENIYI, the writer of On the Bank of the River listed for the NLNG-sponsored prize, is also an On Air Personality (OAP) with Splash FM radio in Ibadan. Adeniyi published her first novella, The Twin Sisters, at age 11, and started writing her debut novel, at her late teens. The book is a story of the ever ironical nature of love, of the paradox of human relationships and of Enitan that grows up with a certain ill-feeling towards a mother, whose past threatens to eclipse the girl’s future.
YEJIDE KILANKO is a writer of poetry and fiction with her debut novel Daughters Who Walk This Path, which is on the shortlist. She started the work in 2009. It was later published in Canada (2012) and in the USA (2013). It focuses on spirited and intelligent, Morayo, who is determined to fiercely protect herself and her sister, Eniayo, in a complex and politically charged country.
