3 books that will duke it out for Etisalat Prize

Adebayo’s ‘Stay with me’ This novel has received a lot of buzz, both at home and abroad. Perhaps it all started after it was shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and then others came. She was later longlisted for the 2018 International Dylan Thomas Prize and the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize. And […]

Adebayo’s ‘Stay with me’

This novel has received a lot of buzz, both at home and abroad. Perhaps it all started after it was shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and then others came. She was later longlisted for the 2018 International Dylan Thomas Prize and the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize. And then she was among the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2017. 

‘Stay With Me’ is a touching story about Yejide who longs for a child in a marriage that has turned turbulent for that same reason. It is described as a “devastating story of the fragility of married love, the undoing of family, the wretchedness of grief, and the all-consuming bonds of motherhood.”

Arimah’s ‘When a Man Falls From the Sky’

This collection of short stories opens with ‘The Future Looks Good’ where Ezinma, a young woman, is about to unlock a door, and then the story unfolds. One of the stories, ‘Who Will Greet You At Home’, was shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African Writing in 2016. In this story, a woman desperate for a child weaves one out of hair, with incredible results. The titular story, ‘When a Man Falls From the Sky’, shows how just how far Lesley Nneka Arimah can go with science fiction. 

‘When a Man Falls From the Sky’ has also received international acclaim. It’s winner of the 2017 Kirkus Prize and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize. It has also been named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Southern Living, Electric Literature, The Root, The Guardian UK, and several more literary magazines. 

Low’s ‘Asylum’

In Marcus Low’s ‘Asylum’, Barry James’s world changes when he’s detained in a quarantine facility. Henrietta Rose-Innes, author of Green Lion and Nineneh, has described this novel as “A searing vision of an all-too-possible world, where moments of human grace and dreaming gleam all the brighter in confinement. With this richly imagined parable, Low emerges as a profound and wholly original voice.’ 

Nigerian writer, Jowhor Ile, was winner of the 2016 edition of 9 mobile Prize for Literature (Ile is the first Nigerian to win the prize). Who wins this year is entirely left to the judges. Will it be another Nigerian?