Cole, Abdullah, Nasiru make literature prize shortlist

The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature has approved a final shortlist of three books out of the 11 released in July 2018.

The books are Embers by Soji Cole, Death and The King’s Grey Hair by Denja Abdullahi and The Rally by Akanji Nasiru.

Embers, by Soji Cole, focuses on life in one of the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps in Northern Nigeria. The characters gave testimonies of their ugly encounters in Sambisa Forest, as well as their painful discovery of life in the IDP camp.

A member of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ibadan, Soji Cole teaches undergraduates play writing at the Department of Theatre Arts.

In Death and The King’s Grey Hair, Denja Abdullahi, a literary essayist and National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), confronts the issue of perpetuation in power, where rulers, like the king in this drama, employ all sorts of devices to cling on to power, long after they have overstayed their welcome.

Akanji Nasiru’s The Rally, addresses the contemporary political theme of youth versus age. Nasiru is a professor of Performing Arts, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State.

The chairman of the panel of judges Matthew Umukoro, is professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan.

Other members of the panel include Mohammed Inuwa Umar – Buratai, professor of Theatre and Performing Arts and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria; and Ngozi Udengwu, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The judges expressed their delight at the high standard of writing evident in the entries for the competition this year. Umukoro said all three plays have high literary qualities of effective dialogue, good dramaturgical structure, skilful handling of suspense, and credible characterisation, which have seen them through to this stage of the competition.

The International Consultant to the Advisory Board for this year’s prize is Jonathan Haynes, professor of English at Long Island University in Brooklyn.

In 2001-2002 he was the founding director of the West African Center of the Friends World Program (now LIU Global) in Kumasi, Ghana. He taught at the American University in Cairo (Egypt), Tufts University, Albion College, Bennington College, and Columbia University, and spent three years in Nigeria as a Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, and University of Ibadan.

The other member of the Advisory Board, besides Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, are Professor 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).

Prof. Ayo Banjo assured that his board would retain the high literary standards the prize has already attained in ensuring that it remains the most prestigious literary prize in Africa.