Chux Ohai

Three entries have emerged on the final shortlist of the Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited. The Advisory Board for the prize, led by Emeritus Prof. Ayo Banjo, made this known in a statement signed by the General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, Kudo Eresia-Eke, and released on Saturday.

The shortlisted entries are A Good Mourning by Ogaga Ifowodo, Songs of myself: Quartet by Tanure Ojaide and The Heresiad by Ikeogu Oke.

The statement notes that A Good Mourning, published by Parresia Books, is a collection of poems, which focuses on the tragedy, ambiguity and contradictions of human experience recreated from the author’s poetic vision and language.

It describes Ojaide’s entry, Songs of Myself: Quartet, published by Kraft Books, as a volume presented in discursive lyricism. The collection of poems, the statement says, reflects the journey to the “deepest vicissitudes” of the poet himself.

The Heresiad, the statement adds, employs the epic form in questioning power and freedom, just as it metaphorically probes the inner workings of societies and the forces that shape them.

 Ifowodo holds a doctorate degree in English from the Cornell University, USA and Ojaide is a Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa, also in the United States, while Oke studied at the Universities of Ibadan and Nigeria.

The panel of judges for this year’s edition of the prize is chaired by Prof Ernest Emenyonu of the University of Michigan at Flint, USA. Other members of the panel are Dr Razinat Mohammed, associate professor of Literature at the University of Maiduguri and Tade Ipadeola, poet, lawyer and winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2013.

A total of 184 entries were received for the current edition of the prize. The prize rotates every year among four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. The 2017 Prize is for poetry and comes with a cash prize of $100, 000.

Currently in its 13th year, the Nigeria Prize for Literature prize has so far produced an impressive succession of winners, beginning with Gabriel Okara and the late Prof. Ezenwa Ohaeto, whose volumes of poetry titled, The Dreamer, His Vision and Chants of a Minstrel, respectively, emerged co-winners of the 2005 prize.

Other past winners include Ahmed Yerima,  Mabel Segun, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Kaine Agary, Esiaba Irobi, Adeleke Adeyemi, Chika Unigwe and Sam Ukala. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim won the prize in 2016 with his novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms.

The winner of this year’s contest will be announced in October.

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