By Damiete Braide
Ejiro Elizabeth Edward’s review entitled “In Search of Home, In Dream of Sands and Waters of Grief of Romeo Oriogun’s Nomad” has won this year’s edition of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Review.
Other winners include Adepoju Isaiah Gbenga’s entry is titled, “The son of Olokun: A Review of Romeo Oriogun”s Nomad and Mary Hilda’s; “Nomad; Oriogun’s Poetics of History, A Shame of Witnessing in and Across Time.”
The event was organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) at the just concluded Lagos Book and Arts Festival ( LABAF), which was held at Freedom Park, Lagos.
Samuel Osaze, moderator of the event, said the competition was open for youths between the ages of 18 to 25 years and was aimed at instituting the culture of engaging the written word and immortalising the late writer, literary and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Prof Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo, thanked CORA for outstanding work done for culture and arts in Nigeria, while thanking Nigeria LNG for promoting literary excellence in the country.
“NLNG is a stakeholder in literature and science in Nigeria, and they are part of this prize and I am representing them here. We commend NLNG for what they are doing for arts and literature.
The shortlisted candidates did very well, and Ejiro Elizabeth Edward’s review, ‘In Search of Home, In Dream of Sands and Waters of Grief’, has won this year’s edition,” she said.
In the same vein, Festival Chairman and Board member of CORA, Kayode Aderinokun, commended the panel of judges for their work in ensuring that winners emerge in the competition .
Jahman Anukulapo said the prize was both an enlightenment and empowerment: “The empowerment is in the form of knowledge, and it will only come through books. What we did last year for the winners of the competition was to upload all the 11 longlisted books for the NLNG Prize for Literature, while the first runner-up received six of the shortlisted books of the winners on Kindle. The second runner-up received three of the final books, and, this year, it will be the same for the winners.”
Jahman also said “these books are a treasure for the winners, and we want to encourage youths to be engaged in literature” as the practice abroad.
Runner-up of this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature, Su’eddie Agema, added, “It’s really great to have people who are supporting prizes like this, and we kept on saying, ‘The Nigeria Prize for Literature can be better; ANA literary prizes and other prizes can be better”, but it is only when we have collaborations like this that such institutions can be strengthened.
“Being on the shortlist of NLNG Prize for Literature has really boosted my profile as a writer, and I am saying people should support literary prizes, irrespective of where they work, because they have their spheres of influence on people. I thank the Nigeria Prize for Literature Advisory Board and the NLNG Board for all that they are doing and I believe they can do better,” he said.