The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), promoters of the yearly Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF), has called for submission of entries for the 2023 edition of the yearly Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize For Book Review.
Dedicated to the celebration of life and career of the famous writer and environmentalist, Ken Saro- Wiwa, who was killed by the Nigeria State on November 10, 1995, the Prize is designed to encourage reading and engagement of the published text, which is in tandem with the core objective of CORA and its prime project, the LABAF.
A statement from the Programme Directorate of the festival spells out the features and conditions for the Prize as follows:
Review of the drama text GRIT (by Obari Gomba) – winner of the 2023 Nigeria Prize for Literature worth $100,000; entries should be maximum of 1500 words, minimum of 800 words and entries must be submitted latest 12 noon of November 10, 2023 to [email protected].
According to CORA, competition is open to only those in age bracket of 18 and 25 years. The announcement of shortlisted entries will be done on Monday, November 13, while announcement of overall winner is Wednesday, November 15. Conferment of Prize on winner is Friday, November 17 at Freedom Park, Lagos.
Prizes will be announced in the course of preparation for the Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF) 2023, which holds from November 13 to 19. The winner and two runners-up will win Prizes denominated in Literary materials and tools. The winning review would be widely published in the media and in reputable journals.
The prize project was launched in 2015 on occasion of the 17th LABAF, which was dedicated to mark the 20th anniversary of the state killing of Saro-Wiwa, himself a keen observer, commentator, and critic of the quality of literature being produced in the country in his time.
The project is designed to further a key objective of the CORA and LABAF— deepening the culture of reading and engagement of content of literary works, particularly fiction, drama, poetry and non-fiction –– all the genres where the late author, Ken Saro-Wiwa, excelled in his illustrious writing career
