3 poets contest for NLNG-sponsored literature prize

Three poets, Ogaga Ifowodo, Tanure Ojaide, and Ikeogu Oke have made the final shortlist of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas-sponsored Nigerian Prize for Literature. The announcement was conveyed in a statement signed by Kudo Eresia Eke, General Manager External Relations at the NLNG. Ifowodo made the list for his work of poetry, ‘A Good Mourning’. […]

Three poets, Ogaga Ifowodo, Tanure Ojaide, and Ikeogu Oke have made the final shortlist of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas-sponsored Nigerian Prize for Literature.

The announcement was conveyed in a statement signed by Kudo Eresia Eke, General Manager External Relations at the NLNG.

Ifowodo made the list for his work of poetry, ‘A Good Mourning’. Published by Parresia Books, it is his fourth volume of poetry. It focuses on the tragedy, ambiguity and contradictions of human experience recreated from poetic vision and language. Ifowodo is a lawyer, scholar, poet, and development activist. He holds a doctorate in English (post-colonial literary/cultural studies) and a Master of Art in Poetry from Cornell University, USA.

‘Songs of Myself: Quartet’, written by Ojaide was published by Kraft Books Ltd. It explores paradoxes in contemporary times presented in discursive lyricism. It reflects the journey to the deepest vicissitudes of the adventurer himself. Ojaide is a Fellow in Writing of the University of Iowa. He has won several awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for the Africa Region, the All-Africa Okigbo Prize for Poetry, the BBC Arts and Africa Poetry Award and the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Poetry Award.

Oke’s ‘The Heresiad’, published by Kraft Books Ltd, employs the epic form in questioning power and freedom. It probes metaphorically the inner workings of societies and those who shape them. He is a writer, poet and journalist. He studied at the University of Ibadan. His creative works include ‘Salutes Without Guns’, ‘The Tortoise and the Princess’, ‘The Lion and the Monkey’, ‘In the Wings of Waiting’ and ‘Where I was Born’.

The shortlist of three emerged following an initial shortlist of eleven released in July by the Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo-led Advisory Board. 

The Chairman of the Panel of Judges for this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature is Prof Ernest Emenyonu, professor of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint, USA. Other judges 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, 2013.

Other members of the Advisory Board, besides Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, two-time Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, are Prof. Jerry Agada, former Minister of State for Education, former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and Professor Emeritus Ben Elugbe, former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and president of the West-African Linguistic Society from 2004 to 2013.

Professor Emeritus Banjo said the eventual winner of the competition will be announced at a World Press Conference in October, 2017.

This contest has, in its 13 years of existence, produced a succession of winners: Gabriel Okara for his volume of poetry, ‘The Dreamer, His Vision’ (co-winner 2005 – poetry); Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto, 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; Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner 2007 – children’s literature) with her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008 – prose) for her novel Yellow Yellow; Esiaba Irobi (2010 – drama) who won the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011 – children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012 – prose), with her novel, On Black Sisters’ Street, Tade Ipadeola (2013 – poetry) with his collection of poems, The Sahara Testaments; Professor Sam Ukala (2014 – drama) with his play, Iredi War and Seasons of Crimson Blossom, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (2016 – prose).

The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly amongst 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. A total of 184 entries for the prize were received this year. Next year’s prize will be for drama.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are “some of Nigeria LNG Limited’s contributions towards building a better Nigeria.”