14 August 2013, Lagos – The Advisory Board of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, sponsor of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Monday, announced an initial shortlist of 11 books, out of 201 books submitted, for the 2013 edition of the prize. This year’s edition focuses on poetry.
The list, according to the General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, Kudo Eresia-Eke, was arrived at after three months of intensive scrutiny by the panel of judges led by a renowned poet and literary critic, Prof. Romanus Egudu of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu.
Books that made the list include Letter Home and Biafran Nights, by Akeh Afam; Eke Iquo’s Symphony of Becoming; Birthcry, Nwakanma Obi; Wild Letters, Ogochukwu Promise and Ede Amatoritsero’s Globetrotter and Hitler’s Children.
Others on the list are Marsh Boy and Other Poems by Egbewo G’ebinyo; Gomba Obari’s Length of Eyes; The Sahara Testaments, Ipadeola Tade; Launko Kinba (pen name for Femi Osofisan), Seven Stations Up the Stairways; Through the Window of a Sandcastle, Nnadi Amu and Sea of My Mind, Raji Remi.
Chairman of the Advisory Board, Emeritus Professor, Ayo Banjo, disclosed that the final shortlist of three and subsequently the winner of the $100,000 worth cash prize will be announced in October.
– Prisca Sam-Duru, Vanguard