Nigerian writers in triple victory at Soyinka ceremony
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka (C) speaks during a protest rally. Akin Bello, a writer with three novels and a poetry collection, was announced the winner of Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa set up to coincide with the 80th birthday celebrations of the icon. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Set up to coincide with the 80th birthday celebrations of the Nobel Laureate, the event took place in Nigeria, a departure from its regular setting in Ghana.
- Three entries each came from Angola and Namibia. One entry each came from Cameroon, Liberia, Togo and Zambia, four from Kenya, five from Uganda, and 128 from Nigeria. Entries had been invited from authors of any published play or collection of plays, published in the last two years.
It was another glittering African literary prize ceremony, this time in Lagos, Nigeria, last Saturday, when the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa was announced.
Akin Bello, a writer with three novels and a poetry collection, took the prize home with the play Egbon of Lagos.
Bello has previously served as chairman of Oyo State’s Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and currently works in the NGO sector in Ibadan. Bello received training in political science at Obafemi Awolowo University.
Set up to coincide with the 80th birthday celebrations of the Nobel Laureate, the event took place in Nigeria, a departure from its regular setting in Ghana.
The Wole Soyinka Prize, administered by the Lumina Foundation, is awarded every other year, alternating in the genres of prose, poetry and drama, and comes with a Sh1.7 million ($20,000) cash prize.
A total of 17 countries had sent in entries for this Pan-African prize judged by a panel of five, drawn from Uganda, South Africa, Mali, Nigeria and Algeria. In a loud proclamation of Nigeria’s literary might, the first and second runners up, Othuke Ominibohs and Toyin Abiodun, were also from the West African country.
NEW LITERARY ACTIVITY
Indeed, as if in the footsteps of the very Nobel Prize, since its setting up in 2005, it has been shared between Nigeria and South Africa, going to Nigeria five times and twice to South Africa.
In almost similar state, outside of writers from South Africa (JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer) and Nigeria (Wole Soyinka), Egypt (Naguib Mahfouz) is the only other African country to claim this distinction.
Coinciding with the flowering of new literary activity in the continent exemplified by the emergence of influential writers such as Chimamanda Adichie and Binyavanga Wainana, the Wole Soyinka Prize has gone on to launch and strengthen the careers of other new generation writers.
These include 2006 winner Sefi Atta (Everything Good Will Come), 2008 winner Nnedi Okorafor (Zahrah the Windseeker) and 2010 co-winner Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (I Do Not Come to You By Chance). The 2012 prize went to Sifiso Mzobe’s Young Blood, while the 2010 prize was shared amongst Nwaubani, Kopana Matlwa (Coconuts) and Wale Okediran (Tenants of the House).
In 2014, 163 entries in the Drama genre had been made from 17 countries, down from 402 prose entries in 2012, perhaps due to the limited number of published drama works in the continent.
Established in 2005, this is the fifth round of awards. The Nigerian Guardian News website nrguardiannews.com reported that two entries each came in from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Three entries each came from Angola and Namibia. One entry each came from Cameroon, Liberia, Togo and Zambia, four from Kenya, five from Uganda, and 128 from Nigeria. Entries had been invited from authors of any published play or collection of plays, published in the last two years.
Sponsored by Nigerian telecommunications company Globacom, the prize administrators also announced that they would have special presentations in Ghana and present a book to Wole Soyinka written in his honour, with the writings of Pan-African intellectuals.
The book features Thabo Mbeki, John Mahama, renowned scholars Prof Henry Louis Gates Jr, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ali Mazrui, Ato Quayson and Soyinka’s fellow Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer and Derek Walcott. Ngugi wa Thiong’o alongside veteran writers Cameron Doudu and Margaret Busby are also included.
NEW GROUND
The ceremony was attended by three African heads of state — Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia) and John Mahama (Ghana) for the book awarding event in Ghana, among other dignitaries.
The Lumina Foundation, was set up in 2000 by writer, psychologist and academic Dr Ogochukwu Promise to promote knowledge, scholarship and talent. At $20,000, the Soyinka Prize stands as one of the highest cash prizes going to African writing, the 15,000 British Pounds given for the Etisalat being another.
This is a good example of how rather than whining about lack of funds, literary communities can partner with corporate groups, to encourage growth and activity in their field.
