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| *Ogaga Ifowodo |
Lawyer and NDDC commissioner, Ogaga Ifowodo , former NEXT writer, Ikeogu Oke, and PR maven, Jumoke Verissimo are among the 11 poets in contention for the $100,000 NLNG sponsored literature prize.
The long list was announced on Saturday, July 22, by the NLNG via an email to sabinews.com.
A short list of 3 will be announced in
September. This year’s prize is for poetry in keeping with the 4
yearly rotation amongst the genres.
The full statement reads:
The Advisory Board for The Nigeria
Prize for Literature, led by Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo has
announced an initial shortlist of eleven books, drawn from 184
entries, in the running for the 2017 edition of the competition.
The shortlisted authors listed in
alphabetical order are as follows:
Akinlabi, Peter-Iconography
Ekwuazi, Hyginus-One Day
I’ll Dare to Raise My Middle
Finger at the Stork
and the Reaper
Gomba, Obari-For Every
Homeland
Ifowodo, Ogaga-A Good
Mourning
Lari-Williams, Seun- Garri for
Breakfast
Ogu, Humphrey-Echoes of
Neglect
Ojaide, Tanure-Songs of
Myself: Quartet
Oke, Ikeogu-The Heresiad
Othman, Abubakar-Blood Streams
in the Desert
Verissimo, Jumoke-The Birth of
Illusion
Yeibo, Ebi-Of Waters and
the Wild
The list is a potpourri of
long-standing poets. Peter Akinalabi is a Masters Degree holder and a
Poet Activist. His poem, Moving, won the Sentinel Literary Quarterly
Poetry Competition. Hyginus Ekwuazi is from the academia and a
professor of media arts. He was Director General, Nigeria Film
Corporation and currently acts as judge in several awards and
festivals.
Obari Gomba is both poet and
playwright. He currently teaches in the Department of English Studies
at the University of Port Harcourt while Ogaga Ifowodo is a diasporan
who teaches poetry and literature at Texas State University-San
Marcos in the United States.
Seun Lari-Williams is a poet, musician
and a practicing lawyer. Humphrey Ogu on the other hand is an
Information Officer at University of Port Harcourt. He was a former
Acting Secretary of the Rivers State branch of ANA (Association of
Nigerian Authors) and a pioneer secretary and co-founder of SeaView
Poetry Society.
Tanure Ojaide is regarded as a
socio-political and ecocritical poet and has won major national and
international poetry awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize
for the Africa Region, the Association of Nigerian Authors’ Poetry
Prize, among others.
Ikeogu Oke is a social commentator,
media and communications expert, and publisher. He is currently the
Media Adviser to the Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power
(PTFP). Dr Abubakar Othman, on the other hand, is a lecturer of
Department of English at the University of Maiduguri. He was
previously the commissioner for Information in Adamawa State and
Director General and founder of the Adamawa State Agency for Museums
and Monuments.
Jumoke Verissimo is a familiar name in
the literary world and prolific is several genres. She is a multiple
award winner and her poems have been translated into Italian,
Norwegian, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Macedonian. Ebi Yeibo, an
English Language scholar and social critic, is currently with the
Department of English, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State.
The list was presented by the panel of
judges for this year’s prize led by the chairperson, Prof. Ernest
Emenyonu, professor of Africana Studies at the University of
Michigan-Flint, USA. Other members of the panel include 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.
Members of the Advisory Board for the
Literature Prize, besides Professor 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 (2004-2013).
As in previous years, the contest for
Africa’s most prestigious literature prize will be keenly
contested.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature has,
since 2004, rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara
(co-winner, 2004, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-winner, 2004,
poetry) for The Dreamer, His Vision; Ahmed Yerima (2005, drama) for
his play, Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s
literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre;
Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s
literature) for her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008, prose)
for her book Yellow Yellow; Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched
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).
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