New €20,000 literature prize for translation challenges FG’s language policy

* EBRD Literature Prize as lifeline for endanged mother tongues

* Chigozie Obioma among 4-man jury panel for 2026 edition

By Anote Ajeluorou

NIGERIA’S endanged and neglected indigenous languages (mother tongues) and in other parts of Africa now have a lifeline and moment to breathe with the introduction of a new literary prize in translation instituted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Known as EBRD Literature Prize, it’s in its eighth year, and celebrates the creativity of the regions where the bank operates. The prize will no doubt help stimulate writing in some of Africa’s struggling indigenous languages (mother tongues), with many on the verge of going extinct.

Croatian’s Ivana Bodrožić’s Sons, Daughters, translated by Ellen Elias- Bursać, and published by Seven Stories Press, UK, won the 2025 edition of the prize. Ukraine’s Tanja Maljartschuk and translator Zenia Tompkins were also recognised for Forgottenness, alongside Poland’s Nobel Prize winning author, Olga Tokarczuk, and translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones for The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story.

Ironically, this prize directly challenges Nigeria’s Federal Government’s ill-informed and ill-advised cancellation of the teaching of mother tongues in Nigerian schools, as recently procounced by the Minister of Education, Mr. Tunji Alausa. Many in the cultural sector have described Mr. Alausa’s prouncement as ‘victory for the British Empire’ that had long ceased to exist, as Mr. Alausa made the rather unfortunate prouncement at a British Council event in Abuja early this week. Mr. Alausa’s pronouncement is a death knell to one cultural area the country is already struggling with among the many challenges in the culture sector. With government’s new stand, it’s hard to see how coming generations of Nigerian writers will benefit from this big prize. Indeed, Mr. Alausa’s new language policy means that Nigeria’s cultural works stand no chance of benefiting from the presence and operations of EBRD in the country.

The new translation prize was announced to select publishers in Lagos by the writer, critic, cultural journalist and chair of this year’s prize jury, Dr. Maya Jaggi, who also writes for Financial Times of London. The intimate event, which was held at the home of CEO of Quramo Publishing, Mrs. Gbemi Shasore in Ikoyi, had the CEO of Parresia Publishers, Azafi Omoluabi, CEO of Bookcraft Africa, Mr. Bankole Olayebi, Co-founder and CEO of Narrative Landscape Press, Anwuli Ojogwu, CEO of Purple Shelves Publishers, Amara Chimeka, Secretary-General of Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), Mr. Toyin Akinosho, lawyer and poet laureate, Mr. Tade Ipadeola and veteran journalist, Elder Dare Babarinsa. The meeting afforded Dr. Jaggi the opportunity to explain the motivation for the prize to the publishers and also satisfy her curiosity about the story of publishing in Nigerian since inception in the 1940s.

In spite of the onerous and lifelong cultural revivalist work of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, who joined the ancestral pantheon last July, old and young writers on the continent still stubbornly stick to writing in the language of the colonisers long after they left the African shore in what might be deemed old habits dying hard. Indeed, the scribal art came to most parts of the continent with colonialism, as many didn’t and still don’t start their learning and writing life in their mother tongues, a situation that has made effectively writing in Africa’s many indigenous languages (mother tongues) pretty difficult. This is perhaps made all the more difficult because of governments’ poor and chaotic language policies in educational planning that hinder rather than enhance literacy in Africa’s many indigenous languages, with Mr. Alausa’s ill-conceived prouncement a case in point in indigenous language dilemma.

Publisher of TheArtHubNg, Mr. Anote Ajeluorou (left); CEO, Paressia Publishers, Azafi Omoluabi; Co-founder of Narrative Landscape Press, Anwuli Ojogwu; CEO, Bookcraft Africa, Mr. Bankole Olayebi; CEO, Quramo Publishers and hostess, Mrs. Gbemi Shasore and jury head, EBRD Literature Prize, Dr. Maya Jaggi at the soiree… in Lagos

But with the new EBRD Literature Prize for translation introduced by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in countries where the bank operates (Nigeria included), Nigerian writers will now be motivated to look inwards to the cultural reality they’d glossed over: learn and begin to write in neglected mother tongues and have such creative works rewarded through translation by a second party. The prize is worth €20,000 and will be shared 50/50 between the writer and the translator. Consolatory prizes for two runners up worth €4,000 each will be shared by the authors and translators.

In order for books to be eligible for the EBRD Literature Prize 2026, the following criteria must be met: The submitted works must consist of books of translated literary fiction (including collections of short stories by a single author) translated into English and written originally in any language, whether official or minority, of a country where the EBRD currently invests by an author who is (or has been) a citizen of one of these countries. The works may only be submitted by European (including UK) or North American publishers with a valid ISBN and the price printed in the currency of a European or North American country. The works must not be either self-translated or self-published. Submissions for the EBRD Literature Prize 2026 may only be made for books translated into English for the first time in the period between November 15, 2024 and 14 November 2025. The new rules this year are that the translated book must be submitted by a publisher based either in a territory where the EBRD invests, or in Europe or in North America and have a valid ISBN. This is a major change, which means it can have been published in English translation in any African country where the EBRD invests, including Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Côte D’Ivoire and Benin, and an individual publisher may not submit more than two books from each territory of the region where the EBRD currently invests but may submit books from more than one territory.  For instance, a publisher may submit two books from each of Kazakhstan, Kenya and Kosovo, but not three from Kazakhstan. This is different from previous years, when they could not submit more than one book per country.

Submissions must be received by December 8, 2025. The EBRD may, at its sole discretion, decide to exclude a work from consideration. Such a decision is final. Any individual publisher may not submit more than one book per EBRD country of operations, but may submit a single book from more than one country of operations.  (As an example, a UK publisher may submit one book each from Morocco, Montenegro, Moldova and Mongolia, but not two from Mongolia). The author and translator of the work must be living at the time it is submitted. Six copies of each work must be submitted to the EBRD, which will not be returned. The finalists (authors and translators) must agree to participate in the EBRD Literature Prize award ceremony at EBRD Headquarters in London. Travel expenses and accommodation will be covered by the EBRD. 

The award celebrates newly translated literature from economies where the bank invests. New independent judges for the 2026 edition include Albanian academic and author Lea Ypi and Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched the EBRD Literature Prize 2026. The prize is awarded to a work of fiction translated into English from a language of an economy where the bank currently invests and published for the first time in the past year.

Submissions of novels, or collections of short stories by a single author, are invited until December 8, 2025 and will be considered by an independent panel of judges.

The judging panel will again be chaired by Dr. Maya Jaggi in her third and final year as chair. Joining her on the panel as new judges for 2026 are Albanian academic and author Professor Lea Ypi, Nigerian writer and Professor Chigozie Obioma and non-fiction writer, Dr. Marek Kohn.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in London on July 2, 2026. A prize of €20,000 will be awarded for the winning book, divided equally between the author and the translator.

For the first time, books by authors from Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal are eligible, since these countries have all become EBRD recipient economies in the past year. Translation is a key element of the prize and this expansion will mean that literature in an even wider range of languages comes to public attention through its translation into English.

Jaggi is an award-winning writer, critic, cultural journalist and artistic director. She is a contributing art critic for the Financial Times and her cultural writing appears widely, including in The Guardian, UK, where she was a profile writer and a lead fiction critic for more than a decade. She interviewed hundreds of writers on five continents – including 15 Nobel laureates in literature. Dr Jaggi was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023. Ypi is Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Fellow of the British Academy. She has been awarded the British Academy Prize for Excellence in Political Science and the Leverhulme Prize for Outstanding Research Achievement for her academic work. Her award-winning philosophical memoir, Free, has been translated into more than 35 languages. Her latest book, Indignity, was published in September 2025.

Obioma was born in Akure, Nigeria. His most recent novel, The Road to the Country (2024), was included in The Economist’s list of the best books of the year. His first two novels, The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, were both shortlisted for The Booker Prize and have been translated into 30 languages. He is the Helen S. Lanier Professor of Creative Writing and English at the University of Georgia and the programme director for the Oxbelly Fiction Writers retreat.

Kohn is a writer of non-fiction who explores the implications of scientific thinking for ideas about human nature and society. His British-Polish background has informed his two most recent books, Four Words for Friend: The Rewards of Using More than One Language in a Divided World and The Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey through Cities at the Heart of Europe. The latter has been shortlisted for the 2026 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.

The EBRD Literature Prize champions the literary richness of the bank’s diverse regions of operation, which span three continents. It also celebrates the role of translators as ‘bridges’ between cultures. Since it was first awarded in 2018, the prize has helped introduce English-language readers to a broad range of literature from countries such as Albania, Croatia, Czechia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Türkiye, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The EBRD is a multilateral bank that promotes the development of the private sector and entrepreneurial initiative in 42 economies across three continents. The bank is owned by 77 countries as well as the EU and the EIB. EBRD investments are aimed at making the economies in its regions competitive, well governed, green, inclusive, resilient and integrated. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X and YouTube. Eligible publishers are encouraged to complete the online submission form as queries are directed to: LiteraturePrize@ebrd.com