By Henry Akubuiro
CORA (Committee for Relevant Art), in collaboration with Nigeria LNG, sponsors of The Nigeria Prize for Literature, will be holding the 13th edition of its Book Party for the 11 writers longlisted for the 2022 edition of the $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature on Sunday, August 7, 2022, at the Shell Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.
The event, scheduled for 2 pm, will also accommodate virtual guests via Zoom; and will be broadcast live on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram platforms.
The Book Party is a literary feast of Ideas and Life celebrating the authors and their works for emerging among the top contenders for the glamorous prize. “It is an afternoon of literary feasting, featuring performances, wining and dining,” said the organisers in a statement signed by Samuel Osaze, the committee’s Programme Officer.
The 11 longlisted books and authors to be hosted by the organisers include:
Coming Undone as Stitches Tighten by IquoDiana Abasi
Dispossessed by James Eze
Augusta’s Poodle by Ogaga Ifowodo
Ife Testament by Segun Adekoya
Memory and the Call of Water by Su’eddie Vershima Agema
Nomad by Romeo Oriogun
The Lilt of the Rebel by Obari Gomba
The Love Canticles by Chijioke Amu Nnadi.
Wanderer Cantos by Remi Raji
Yawns and Belches by Joe Ushie
Your Crib, My Qibla by Saddiq Dzukogi.
The CORA-The Nigeria Prize for Literature Book party, a special iteration of the CORA Book Party launched in 1996, was initiated after a review of the first five years of the esteemed prize project, aimed at creating a platform through which the public get to engage with the works considered the best of the usually over 200 entries per edition of the NPL.
CORA is a group of artistes, art enthusiasts, art promoters and art writers committed to the flowering of all the contemporary arts of the peoples that make up Nigeria. Since 1999, it has organised, every year the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF, described as “the biggest Culture picnic on the African continent.” The 23rd edition of the festival will be held from November 14-20 themed “Pathways to the Future.”