Where prizes take Nigerian literature

Uche Peter Umez is a poet and short story writer who has won awards in poetry, short stories and children novel writing. He is the author of ‘Dark through the Delta’ and ‘Aridity of Feelings’ both poetry collections, and ‘Tears in her Eyes,’ a collection of short stories. He explained that prizes make a work […]

Uche Peter Umez is a poet and short story writer who has won awards in poetry, short stories and children novel writing. He is the author of ‘Dark through the Delta’ and ‘Aridity of Feelings’ both poetry collections, and ‘Tears in her Eyes,’ a collection of short stories. He explained that prizes make a work and its author visible. “Once you win a prize, people will want to read your work,” he says, adding that it has stimulated aspiring writers who ordinarily would not have taken their work seriously.
Various writing contests, such as Short Story Day Prize, Writivism Short Story Prize, Etisalat Prize For Literature, Africa Book Club Short Story Competition, Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Competition, the Caine Prize for African Writing, and many others, have played important roles in encouraging upcoming writers in Africa and Nigeria in particular. Virtually all of these contests have one central purpose, which is to tell stories about Africa, from an African perspective.
Recently, two Nigerians, Louis Ogbere and Mary Okon Ononokpono were longlisted for the 2015 Short Story day Africa (SSDA) Prize among 19 other writers. Each year, there is a theme for the contest, and this year it is simply ‘Water.’ Ogbere is the author of several short stories, like ‘World Crimes Day’ and ‘Please Stay with Memory.’ In 2014, Ononokpono was longlisted for the Golden Baobob Prize for her story ‘Talulah the Time Traveller,’ a children’s short story.
On 21 June every year, SSDA, organised by a South African, Rachel Zadok – the author of two novels, ‘Gem Squash Tokoloshe’ and ‘Sister-Sister’ – celebrates the diversity of Africa’s voices through its annual competition, where writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, teachers and school children from all over the globe gather to write, submit, read, workshop and discuss stories – and foster the love of reading and writing African fiction.
It is the custom for the Writivism Short Story Prize to be announced during its festival, which took place this year from 17 to 21 June in Kampala, Uganda, where Nigeria’s Pemi Aguda was winner for her short story ‘Caterer, Caterer.’ Before then, she had not been shortlisted for any literary prize.
The prize is for an unpublished short story with entry limited to emerging writers based on the continent – unlike Short Story Day Prize – who are yet to publish a book-length manuscript.
Yewande Omotoso was shortlisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2013 for her first novel, ‘Bomboy,’ after which she published her second novel, ‘The Woman Next Door.’ In an interview she revealed how the prize brought her recognition and the opportunity to travel and meet other writers.
Created by Etisalat Nigeria in 2013, it is the first pan-African prize celebrating first time writers of published fiction and aims to serve as a platform for the discovery of new creative talent out of the continent and invariably promote the burgeoning publishing industry in Africa.
The Africa Book Club which holds a monthly short story competition begins with the words: “Are you an African writer? Do you have a story that is set in or about Africa?”
Most or all of such contests offer monetary rewards, obviously in recognition of the writers’ need for financial boost. Rotimi Babatunde, was long-listed for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story, for his piece ‘The Collected Tricks of Houdini.’
The winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2012, Babatunde said it has benefited his writing with a larger readership and the prize has been spectacularly successful in promoting writing from Africa on the international stage. “It is remarkable how much it has been able to accomplish in the mere decade and half of its existence, despite its being run on a shoestring budget,” he offered.
Babatunde added that more institutions of comparable energy and steadfastness to the Caine Prize, based within or outside the continent, are needed, but emphasised that the important thing is their commitment to promoting literature from and about African countries.
He gave credit to initiatives like Writivism and Short Story Day Africa “who have recently come into existence to meet that challenge. And before them there was Saraba Magazine, which is currently organising a manuscript competition for Nigerian writers. Our literary ecosystem would be richer if we let a hundred flowers bloom.”