Answer to the above will be provided on Wednesday, October 12, during a world press conference to announce the winner of the prize sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Limited.
The highly-anticipated event will hold three days after the usual October 9 date at the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos.
One other thing that will be different is the announcement of the winner for the Nigeria Prize for Science, also sponsored by the Nigeria LNG.
The shortlist of three entries for the literature prize has since been approved by the Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria LNG. This announcement follows an initial shortlist of 11 released in July.
The three are Born on a Tuesday (Elnathan John), Night Dancer (Chika Unigwe) and Season of Crimson Blossoms (Abubakar Adam Ibrahim).
Born on a Tuesday, published by Parresia Books, is a story about contemporary Northern Nigeria which has over the years experienced religious violence and carnage as seen through the eyes of a young man. Born on a Tuesday is John’s first novel. John is a writer, lawyer and a CivitellaRanieri Fellow. He has also been shortlisted twice by the Caine Prize for African Writing.
Unigwe’s Night Dancer, published by Jonathan Cape, focusses on the young protagonist’s search for identity and her consequent re-appraisal of her mother’s values.Unigwe is a writer and the 2012 winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature, with her novel On Black Sisters Street. Unigwe sits on the Board of Trustees of pan-African literary initiative, Writivism, and was recently appointed a judge for the Manbooker Prize, 2017.
Season of Crimson Blossoms is a novel set in conservative Northern Nigeria. It focusses on unusual love affairs between characters, as well as ambiguities in religion and politics. Published by Cassava Republic Press, Season of Crimson Blossoms is Ibrahim’s debut novel. Ibrahim has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the AmatuBraide Prize for Prose. He is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow (2013) and a CivitellaRanieri Fellow (2015).
Chairman of the Panel of Judges, Prof. Dan Izevbaye, is a well-respected literary critic and professor of Literature in English. He has been visiting lecturer at the University of Kent at Canterbury, visiting professor at University of Pennsylvania, University of Benin, and University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He has been external examiner or curriculum consultant at University of the West Indies.
Other judges are Asabe Usman Kabir, professor of Oral and African Literatures at UsmanuDanfodiyo University, Sokoto; and IsidoreDiala, first winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism and professor of African literature in the Department of English, Imo State University, Owerri.
Other members of the Advisory Board are Prof. Jerry Agada, former Minister of State for Education, former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), and Professor Emeritus Ben Elugbe, former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) and president of the West-African Linguistic Society (2004-2013).
The Nigeria Prize for Literature has since 2004 rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara for his volume of poetry, The Dreamer, His Vision (co-winner 2005 – poetry); Professor EzenwaOhaeto, for his volume of poetry, Chants of a Minstrel (co-winner 2005 poetry); Ahmed Yerima (2006 – drama) for his book Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner 2007 – children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; AkachiAdimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner 2007 – children’s literature) with her book, My Cousin Sammy; KaineAgary (2008 – prose) for her novel Yellow Yellow; EsiabaIrobi (2010 – drama) who won the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; AdelekeAdeyemi (2011 – children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock and Chika Unigwe (2012 – prose), with her novel, On Black Sisters’ Street, TadeIpadeola (2013 – poetry) with his collection of poems, The Sahara Testaments and Sam Ukala (2014-drama) with his play, Iredi War.
The prize rotates yearly among four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. The 2016 Prize is for prose fiction and comes with a cash prize of $100,000. Next year’s prize will be for poetry. A total of 173 entries for the prize were received this year.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are some of Nigeria LNG’s numerous contributions towards building a better Nigeria.
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NgugiWaThiong’o returns to Nigeria for AABF 2016
Kenyan writer,NgugiWaThiong’o, will be returning to Nigeria for the Ake Arts and Book Festival (AABF) 2016 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, taking place from November 15 to 19. The distinguished professor, renowned writer and literary icon will headline the 2016 edition of AABF.
The writer, who has been here before for literature, will sit in conversation with the Nigerian writer, OkeyNdibe, about his life and works. He will also be talking about his latest book,Birth of a Dream Weaver.
Book Buzz Foundation, which organises the four-year-old festival, said in a statement it will once again host an outstanding roster of writers, thinkers, artists, filmmakers, musicians, book lovers and art enthusiasts.
“We are pleased to announce that our dates for this year are 15 to 19 November and the festival will take place at Arts and Culture Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta,” said the statement.
The theme this year is ‘Beneath this Skin’.
The festival will also host nine book chats, which will feature 18 authors like HelonHabila, Laila Lalami, Teju Cole, PanasheChigumadzi, TendaiHuchu, ChineloOkparanta, Noviolet Bulawayo, Jowhor Ile, Sarah LadipoManyika, OdafeAtogun, Tade Thompson and Toni Kan.
“In our 12 stimulating panel discussions where we will engage both new voices and established ones, we will focus on identities, race, gender, mental health in fiction, the rise and fall of African economies. We will also explore exciting genres such as erotica, horror fiction, and prison stories. At the two art exhibitions, we will see the works of LaoluSenbanjo whose ‘Sacred Art of the Ori’ featured on Beyonce’s latest album, Lemonade; and Fatima Abubakar who captures the lives of the people of Borno State in a stunning series of photographs. An acoustic music concert with Brymo, Falana, Adunni and Nefertiti will also entertain the audience at the Festival,” said the statement.
The festival film is the documentary HisseneHabre: A Chadian Tragedy, an account of the horror inflicted on the Chadian people during HissenHabre’s rule. Festival of Short Films will also premiere to celebrate this form of visual storytelling and the people who are fuelling its rapid growth in Nigeria. The short films to be screened are: A Mother’s Journey by Sade Adeniran, No Good Turn by UdokaOyeka and Salt by Umar Turaki.
The workshops this year will include: Fiction Writing by Noviolet Bulawayo, HelonHabila and Sarah LadipoManyika; Script-writing by InyaLawal and Victoria Thomas of the Story Republic and Graphic Short Stories by Sebastian Loerscher.
Drama will have The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, which featured at the first edition return in collaboration with Gbagyi Child Entertainment and Directed by Femi Elufowoju(Jr.).
The popular Palm Wine and Poetry Evening will feature poets like TitilopeSonuga, Lebo Mashile, OgagaIfowodo, Micheal Kelleher and Dike Chukwumerije.
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Deadline approaches for Morland writing scholarships
The Morland writing scholarships, which opened call for applications on June 30 will be open till October 31.
Announcement on the organisation’s website states that applications submitted outside that period will not be considered.
The scholarships are open to anyone writing in the English language, who was born in Africa or both of whose parents were born in Africa. Founded by the Miles Morland Foundation (MMF), it is to help writers write while simultaneously earning a living.
“To help meet this need, the MMF awards annually a small number of Morland writing scholarships, with the aim being to allow each scholar the time to produce the first draft of a completed book,” said a statement from the organisation.
Scholars writing fiction will receive a grant of £18,000, paid monthly over the course of 12 months. At the discretion of the foundation, scholars writing non-fiction may receive a grant of up to £27,000, paid over a period of up to 18 months.
However, scholars will have to undertake that at the end of each month, they must send the foundation 10,000 new words that they will have written over the course of the month. Scholars are also asked to donate to the MMF 20 per cent of whatever they subsequently receive from what they write during the period of their scholarship. This includes revenues as a result of film rights, serialisations or other ancillary revenues arising from the book written during the scholarship period. These funds will be used to support other promising writers. The 20 per cent return obligation should be considered a debt of honour rather than a legally binding obligation.
To qualify for the scholarship, a candidate must submit an excerpt from a piece of work of between 2,000 and 5,000 words written in English that has been published and offered for sale. This will be evaluated by a panel of readers and judges set up by the MMF. The work submitted will be judged purely on literary merit. It is not the purpose of the scholarships to support academic or scientific research, or works of special interest such as religious or political writings. Submissions or proposals of this nature do not qualify.
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ANA, others in season of shortlists
With the number of shortlist announcements going on at the moment, it will be more than correct to name this time in the Nigerian annals a season of shortlists.
The latest are the ones by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the EriataOribhabor Poetry Prize (EOPP) 2016.
ANA’s announcement through a press statement signed by the organisation’s Publicity Secretary (South), OlatunbosunTaofeek, said the judges of the Association of Nigerian Authors Literary Prizes are pleased to release the shortlist for the 2015 ANA Prizes.
Among the writers and titles this year are for the ANA Prose Fiction Prize: Avenger of Blood by Franklin Finecountry, On the Bank of the River by IfeoluwapoAdeniyi, Prodigals in Paradise by Henry Akubuiro and Odufa: A Lovers’ Tale by OthukeOminiabohs.
For the ANA Drama Prize, the list has Kosoko King of Eko by Fela Omoyele, Sacking the Porter by OlatundeBolaji and Fated Rift by R.C. Ofodile, while the ANA Poetry Prize has Thunder Protocol by ObariGomba, Kontradiction by SaddiqDzukogi and The Birth of Illusion by JumokeVerissimo.
The ANA/AbubakarGimba Prize for Short Stories has River People and Other Storiesby PeterUkwa, Midnight Cry by Paul Ugah and From Sin to Splendour by R. C. Ofodile.
For the ANA/NgoziChumaUdeh Prize for Children’s Literature, there is The Quest for the Gem of Arubia by Augusta MmakambaOkon, Sunny and the Arodan by Ozimede Sunny Ekhaalume and Water-Carrier Millionaire by Philip Begho.
For honourable mention is the ‘The Film Script, Nollywood and Cultural Diplomacy: Criticism of Artist’s Knowledge of the Film Story’ by Nwagbo Pat Obi listed on the ANA/Maria Ajima Prize for Literary Criticism.
Two categories, the ANA/Mazarriya Teen Author Poetry Prize and ANA/NECO Teen Author Prose Prize, will not be awarded this year.
Winners of the various prizes will be announced at the awards dinner of the 35th Anniversary International Convention of the Association to take place on Saturday, October 29 in Abuja.
The panel of judges are: Prof Nelson Fashina (University of Ibadan), MallamSalihu Mohammed Bappa (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria), IsmailaBalaGarba (Bayero University, Kano), Dr. OwojechoOmoha (University of Abuja) and Mrs. Joan Oji (Educational Resource Centre, Abuja).
Words Rhymes & Rhythm Limited. organiser of the EOPP now in its fifth year which started accepting entries on July 23, received 370 works from Nigerian poets all over the world.
The shortlisted entries are: Where We Were Born by MaduChisomKingdavid, The Porcelain Platesby Frank Eze, House of Noise Makers by Famuwagun Festus, Is Justice Really Blind? by ChiebukaOjukwu and An Old Man’s Story by Abraham Isaac Oluwatimilehin. Others are: Electron Microscopy by UcheOgbuji, How the Beam Lost its Balance by Frank Eze, Voice of the Future Scolding Today by Olajuwon Joseph Olumide and Unity by Daniel David Zangam.
The winner of the EOPP 2016 will take home a N50,000 cash prize and a copy each of Beautiful Poisons and Crossroads & The Rubicon, while the first runner-up will get a N20,000 cash prize and a copy of Beautiful Poisons and the second runner-up will get N10,000 cash and a copy of Crossroads & the Rubicon. In addition, all the poets on the shortlist will receive SFEV certificates of recognition and copies of Crossroads & the Rubicon.
Winners will be announced on October 10 and awarded during the Words Rhymes & Rhythm Festival scheduled to hold in November.
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Akademie Schloss Solitude, Africa Centre call for application
Akademie Schloss Solitude, which sponsors young artists, scholars, scientists and economic professionals via residential fellowships only, has made a call for application. So has the Africa Centre Artists in Residency.
To qualify for the Akademie Schloss Solitude fellowship, candidates have to be up to 35 years or have completed a university or college degree within the last five years, hence completing academic studies.
A limited number of fellowships are awarded regardless of the applicants’ age. Decisions relating to the above will be made by the responsible juror. Fellowships are usually awarded for a period between three and twelve months.
Free accommodation is included, and fellows are awarded €1,150 monthly. Fellows are provided with a furnished living/working studio (including electricity, water and heating). Travel expenses for arrival and departure in Stuttgart will be covered on a one-time basis.
All applications have to be posted until November 30, 2016 at the latest (post stamp).
The application round started on September 1 and ends on November 30, and application forms are only available during this period.
Meanwhile, that Artists in Residency: Africa Centre selects an artist from a short list provided by the Africa Centre, for one of their 2017 or 2018 residencies. Each residency offers a distinct structure, set of requirements and duration.
The costs of the residency and round-trip airfare are included in each residency award made. Artists interested in a Rockefeller Bellagio Center residency may read the application guidelines on the organisation’s website for further information about this residency and the various application methods available.
The residencies are available to composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, curators, visual and performance artists as well as artists of other forms whose work is inspired by or relates to global or social issues and promotes the well-being of humankind.
Deadline for application submission is Friday, October 14.