The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature on Thursday announced the shortlist of 11 drawn from 173 books, in the running for the 2019 edition of the prize.
The 11 books shortlisted include A Hero’s Welcome by Ndidi Enenmor, Boom, Boom by Jude Idada, Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Double ‘A’ for Adventure by Anisa Daniel-Oniko and Ginika’s Adventures by Nnena Ochiche.
Others are Igho Goes to Farm by Anote Ajeluorou, Mystery at Ebenezer’s Lodge by Dunni Olatunde, Obioma: A Girl’s Journey to Self-Discovery by Nkiru Uzoh, She Calls Him Daddy by Oladele Medaiyese, Spurred Surprises by Lami Adejoh Opawale and The Great Walls of Benin by O. T. Begho.
The list was presented by the chairman, panel of judges for this year’s prize, Professor Obodimma Oha, professor of cultural semiotics and stylistics in the Department of English, University of Ibadan.
Other members of the panel of judges include Professor Asabe Usman Kabir, professor of oral and African literature at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto and Dr. Patrick Oloko, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos who specialises in African postcolonial literature, gender and cultural studies.
As in the past, The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa’s biggest reward for creative excellence, will be keenly contested.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature, worth $100, 000 in prize money, rotates yearly amongst four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. The 2019 prize is for children’s literature. Next year’s competition will focus on prose fiction.
A shortlist of three is expected in September.
A winner, if any, will be announced by the advisory board in October.
