CORA, NLNG celebrate The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 longlist at Book Party August 3
By Editor
AS the countdown to the USD$100,000 award for the best book in Nigeria at The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 heats up, the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) in collaboration with NLNG will stage the 16th edition of the CORA-NPL Book Party on Sunday, August 3, at Lagos Continental Hotel, Kofo Abayomi Stret, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event, which begins promptly at 1:00 pm, is strictly by invitation, though other interested guests could join virtually.
The Book Party, which made its debut in 1996 as a special iteration of CORA’s literary activism mission, has evolved into a premier platform for celebrating and showcasing the best works longlisted for the annual Nigeria Prize for Literature. Since its inauguration in 2004 by NLNG, The Nigeria Prize for Literature has become the most prestigious and financially rewarding literary award on the African continent, aimed at encouraging excellence and creativity in Nigerian literature.
In a statement released on Tuesday, July 29, 2025 by CORA’s Programme Officer, Mr. Samuel Osaze, the remarkable quality of the 2025 entries is reflected in the caliber of writers on this year’s longlist.
“Out of the 252 entries received this year, as earlier announced by the organisers, the NPL Advisory Board must have had the arduous task of selecting a longlist of 11,” Osaze said. “The number of submissions has been described as ‘unprecedented.’ Given the steady growth of the Nigerian literary community, it’s no surprise that this year’s longlist features highly competitive heavyweight entries. The Book Party represents the first stage of public engagement with the longlisted writers. It is a platform that continues to uphold its essence in bringing the writers’ works under the lens of public discourse and critical engagement. Truly, it’s the year of the heavyweights!”
Why the Book Party
ACCORDING to a statement from CORA Programme directorate: “Since 2010, CORA has been a critical force in the projection of the longlisted works to the attention of the public. This is through the annual CORA-NPL Book Party. To CORA, the 11 books on the longlist are the very best titles and writers in the genre this season. It means that, out of the so many (over 250) entries for the year’s edition of the prize, the 11 titles are exceptional and any of them could indeed clinch the coveted prize. The objective of the Book Party as manifested in the past editions is to ensure that we bring the longlisted writers and books face-to-face with the literary audiences, so that we could create conversations around the work and the author. In its 16th edition, the Book Party has become a respectable platform through which the NPL longlisted writers are engaged on their work by the public. This is the core reason we initiated the CORA-NPL Book Party, essentially to celebrate the accomplishment of the author, and celebrate their individual work on the milestone.”
A shortlist of three finalists will be announced subsequently and the eventual winner in October.
In no particular order, below are the synopses and profiles of the longlisted writers for The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025.
When We Were Fireflies by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim: When brooding artist, Yarima Lalo, encounters a moving train for the first time, two serendipitous events occur. First, it triggers memories of past lives in which he was twice murdered—once on a train. He also meets Aziza, a woman with a complicated past of her own, who becomes key to helping him understand what he is experiencing. With a third death in his current life imminent, together they go hunting for remnants of his past lives. Will they find evidence that he is losing his mind or the people who once loved or loathed him? More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/book/when-we-were-fireflies/
CREATIVE writer and journalist, Ibrahim’s novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms, won The Nigerian Prize for Literature in 2016. His debut short-story collection The Whispering Trees was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2014, with the title story shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. He has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the ANA Plateau/Amatu Braide Prize for Prose and in 2014, he was selected for the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Dreams and Assorted Nightmares is his third book and second collection of short stories. More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abubakar_Adam_Ibrahim
Petrichor, The Scent of a New Beginning by Ayo Oyeku: In 1976, young Jola steps into St. Michael’s Anglican Missionary School with dreams of a brighter future — only to stumble into a nightmare. Beneath the warm smile of Reverend Powell, a white missionary principal, lies a monster who wields God’s name to justify unspeakable cruelty. When Jola’s desperate bid for freedom ends in betrayal and a river’s dark embrace, he claws his way back to a mother who will stop at nothing to protect him. But justice slips through their fingers as tragedy strikes, leaving scars that time can’t heal. Decades later, as Nigeria unfurls its democratic wings in 1999, love finds Jola in the form of Chinelo — tempest of grace vowing to regain his stolen years and get him justice. More at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Petrichor-Scent-Beginning-Ayo-Oyeku-ebook/
AN Ebedi International Residency Fellow and a Humanitarian Leadership Fellow, Oyeku made an early mark in 2004 when his first children’s book, First among Equals, was selected by World Bank (Nigeria) for distribution across schools and libraries in Nigeria. Subsequently, his poems began to appear in notable journals and anthologies. In 2015, his young adult novel, Tears of the Lonely, won the Ezenwa Ohaeto Prize for Fiction, by the Society of Young Nigerian Writers. In 2016, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his poem, ‘Reeds on the Rivers’. He emerged as a finalist for the Golden Baobab Prize in 2016 and 2018 for his chapter book manuscripts, Maya and the Finish Line and The Era of Afrocubs. In 2019, he won the Association of Nigerian Authors Prize for Children’s Literature for his book, Mafoya and the Finish Line and he was longlisted fro his children’s book, The Magic Jalabiya for The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024. More at: https://books.google.com.ng/books/about/What_Happened_on_Thursday.html?id
The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma: Set in Nigeria’s late 1960s, The Road to the Country is the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt who must go to war to free himself. When his younger brother disappears as the country explodes in civil war, Kunle must set out on an impossible rescue mission. Kunle’s search for his brother becomes a journey of atonement that will see him conscripted into the breakaway Biafran army and forced to fight a war he hardly understands, all the while navigating the prophecies of a local Seer, he who marks Kunle as an abami eda — one who will die and return to life. Obioma’s novel is an odyssey of brotherhood, love, and unimaginable courage set during one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of Africa. More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/book/the-road-to-the-country/
A writer, described by Salman Rushdie “a major voice” in literature, Obioma’s two previous novels The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities were both finalists for the Booker Prize. His novels have won the FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, an NAACP Image Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction, and have been nominated for many others. Together, they have been translated into 30 languages. He was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the United States of America. More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigozie_Obioma
The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe: When 17-year-old Nani loses her older sister and then her father in quick succession, her world spins off its axis. Isolated and misunderstood by her grieving mother and sister, she’s drawn to an itinerant preacher, a handsome self-proclaimed man of God who offers her a new place to belong. All too soon, Nani finds herself estranged from her family, tethered to her abusive husband by children she loves but cannot fully comprehend. She must find the courage to break free and wrestle her life back — without losing what she loves most. More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/book/the-middle-daughter/
EDUCATED at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, KU Leuven (Belgium), and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands from where she earned her PhD in Post-Colonial Studies, Unigwe’s work spans novels, short stories, essays, and children’s literature. Her writing, often centred on displacement, identity and belonging and the intersections of culture, is celebrated for its lyrical intensity and unflinching honesty. Unigwe is widely translated, with her work available in more than a dozen languages, including Hebrew and Tamil. Her 2023 novel The Middle Daughter was longlisted for the New Voices Award, shortlisted for the Townsend Prize, and selected as a Booksellers Pick in the UK upon publication. She is also the author of On Black Sisters’ Street, which won The Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2012. More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chika_Unigwe; X, @chikaunigwe; @themiddaughter ; Facebook: @chikaunigwe; Instagram@chikaunigweauthor.
Water Baby by Chioma Okereke: In Makoko, the floating slum off mainland Lagos, Nigeria, 19-year-old Baby yearns for an existence where she can escape the future her father has planned for her. With opportunities scarce, Baby jumps at the chance to join a newly launched drone-mapping project, aimed at broadening the visibility of her community. Then a video of her at work goes viral and Baby finds herself with options she could never have imagined, including the possibility of leaving her birthplace to represent Makoko on the world stage. But will life beyond the lagoon be everything she’s dreamed of? Or has everything she wants been in front of her all along? It is a coming-of-age story based on the real settlement of Makoko in Nigeria. More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/book/water-baby/
AN award-nominated novelist, short story writer, and poet whose work spans continents and cultures with lyrical precision and emotional depth, Okereke’s writing is deeply informed by the dissonance and insight that come from living between worlds. Her early years navigating identity and visibility across shifting cultural landscapes shaped her instinctive attention to the margins — to the characters, voices and moments that might otherwise go unseen. What began as a journey in performance poetry evolved into a passion for prose, as she found greater sanctuary in the written word. Her debut novel, Bitter Leaf (Virago), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and her short story Trompette De La Mort was named First Runner Up for the inaugural Costa Short Story Award. More at: https://chiomaokereke.com/
Fine Dreams by Linda N. Masi: Set in a fictional town at a fictional school, Fine Dreams centres on four young friends, the stars of their school’s track team. While studying for exams, they are kidnapped and taken to a terrorist encampment. Two are claimed as “wives” by their captors, one is forced to wear a suicide vest, and each is subjected to appalling violence and terror. While their stories resonate with a widely publicised 2014 abduction, these four young women could have been taken in any of the many incidents that have plagued the Nigerian people for years. Even though they are abducted and abused by men in power and forced to survive in a dark place, these resilient young women recover their dreams and hopes to live in daylight once again. More at: https://books.google.com.ng/books/about/Fine_Dreams.html
WINNER of the Juniper Prize for fiction, winner of the Indies Foreword Silver Award for Multicultural Adult Fiction and a Best New Fiction finalist in the International Book Awards, Masi’s work has appeared in Locomotive, Tupelo Quarterly, Blackberry: A Magazine and elsewhere. Some of her other works have been anthologised in Songai 12 (in honor of Port Harcourt – UNESCO World Book Capital 2014), Nothing to See Here (ed. Hilda Twongyeirwe), and The Beggar’s Story and other Stories (ed. Elechi Amadi). She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Mississippi and a PhD in English (creative writing focus) from Texas Tech University. More at: https://go.authorsguild.org/members/9553
Leave My Bones in Saskatoon by Michael Afenfia: Seen through the eyes of Owoicho, a television presenter seeking a better life for himself and his family, Leave my Bones in Saskatoon spans two cultures and continents. The story begins with Owoicho’s good news. He can’t wait to tell his family that their permanent residency application to Canada was successful. But while he was in Abuja, happy about this breakthrough, somewhere in the outskirts of Makurdi, a dark and troubling event threatens to torpedo all the plans he and his wife, Ene had of moving their family to Saskatoon, Canada. We also meet Ochanya, Owoicho’s teenage daughter who has to deal with the twin shock of losing close family and the unavoidable transition from girl to adolescence that pitches her against the people that love and care for her the most. With everything Owoicho and Ochanya have to deal with, do they still make it out to Canada as planned and whose bones are in Saskatoon? More at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123503348-leave-my-bones-in-saskatoon
A two-time finalist for the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature, Afenfia’s writing has also made the shortlist for the Glengarry Book Award. His novels Rain Can Never Know, The Mechanics of Yenagoa and Leave My Bones in Saskatoon explore themes of migration, identity, and the human condition across continents. His other books include When the Moon Caught Fire, A Street Called Lonely, Don’t Die on Wednesday and an anthology of short stories and poems, Head of the Baptist. His seventh novel, Dear Algorithm: The Wedlock Show is set for release just before Christmas 2025 by Griots Lounge and Paperworth Books. More at: https://michaelafenfia.com/
This Motherless Land by Nikki May: Split between England and Nigeria, two extraordinary cousins are set on vastly different paths as they come to terms with their shared family history. Quiet Funke is happy in Lagos. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv. Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends. But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. More at: https://www.narrativelandscape.com/product/this-motherless-land/
AN Anglo-Nigerian born in Bristol and raised in Lagos, her debut novel Wahala won the Comedy Women In Print New Voice Prize, was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Award and the Fingerprint Debut of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award. It’s being turned into a major BBC TV drama series. This Motherless Land, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Prize for Fiction with a Sense of Place 2025. It is currently being adapted for TV. More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_May
SÀNYÀ by Oyin Olugbile: SÀNYÀ always felt different. And everyone that knew her — the people in the village she grew up in, her beloved brother, Dada, her Aunt Abike, and even her parents before she was born—knew that there was something special about her, too. After an unspeakable tragedy causes her to leave home and grow up too soon, she is devastated to find that her incredible powers are linked to a future which she must fight, even at the cost of her very soul. She begins life anew, hoping that the dark prophesy would somehow rewrite itself. Soon, however, her carefully crafted life and identity become the catalyst for a deadly war that will tear her family apart, and doom everything she holds dear. More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/book/sanya/
A cultural storyteller, whose writing reimagines African myths, matriarchal power, and spiritual memory, Olugbile holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Lagos and a Master’s degree in Leadership and Development from King’s College London. She is the co-author of The Road to Good Governance in Nigeria and Africa and has written several screenplays exploring identity, spirituality, and intergenerational transformation. She has received multiple recognitions for her work across literature, education, and leadership, including: CANEX Prize for Publishing, 2024 longlist for SÀNYÀ, and FutureEd Awards, 2023, winner, Best Learning Support, and Women Economic Forum Awards, 2023 and winner of Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All. More at: https://masobebooks.com/ng/writer/oyin-olugbile/; oyinolugbile@gmail.com | Instagram: @heyitsoyin | Twitter/X: @HeyItsOyin.
New York, My Village by Uwem Akpan: From a suspiciously cheap Hell’s Kitchen walk-up, Nigerian editor and winner of a Toni Morrison Publishing Fellowship, Ekong Udousoro, is about to begin the opportunity of a lifetime to learn the ins and outs of the publishing industry from its incandescent epicentre. While his sophisticated colleagues meet him with kindness and hospitality, he is soon exposed to a colder, ruthlessly commercial underbelly —callous agents, greedy landlords, boorish and hostile neighbours, and, beneath a superficial cosmopolitanism, a bedrock of white cultural superiority and racist assumptions about Africa, its peoples, and worst of all, its food. Reckoning, at the same time, with the recent history of the devastating and brutal Biafran War, in which Ekong’s people were a minority of a minority caught up in the mutual slaughter of majority tribes, Ekong’s life in New York becomes a saga of unanticipated strife. More at: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56783758-new-york-my-village
HIS first book, Say You’re One of Them, a collection of short stories, published in 2008 by Little, Brown, made the “Best of the Year” list at People magazine, Wall Street Journal, and other places. It made the 2009 Oprah Book Club selection. A New York Times and Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller, it has been translated into 12 languages. New York, My Village, published 2021 by WW Norton is his second book and first novel. He has been a Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010), Institute for the Humanities (University of Michigan, 2011), Yaddo Foundation (Saratoga Springs, New York, 2012), the Cullman Center (the New York Public Library, 2013) and the Hang Center for Catholic Intellectual Heritage (Loyola University Chicago, 2017).
More at: https://www.uwemakpan.com/
An Unusual Grief Yewande Omotosho: How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead? This is the question that haunts Mojisola as she grapples with the sudden loss of her daughter, Yinka and the unresolved fractures in their relationship. She is forced to confront the dysfunctions of her life that have led her to this point, evading her errant husband and mourning their estranged daughter alone. Mojisola’s grief takes her from Cape Town to Johannesburg where she holes up in Yinka’s apartment, unearthing the life that she had built for herself there. Walking a mile in Yinka’s shoes, Mojisola slips into a clandestine underworld, where she learns to break free from the bondage of the labels, wife and mother. In this new world of feline companionship, reignited talents and unlikely friendships with Yinka’s acerbic landlady Zelda, Mojisola’s understanding of life and her place within it is built anew. More at: https://www.yewandeomotoso.com/
ARCHITECT and designer, Omotosho’s debut novel, Bom Boy, was published in 2011by Modjaji Books in Cape Town, and won the 2012 South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author, shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize, and for the M-Net Literary Awards 2012. Omotosho was a finalist for Etisalat Prize for Literature 2013, following which she took up a 2014 Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia. She was a 2013 Norman Mailer Fellow and recipient of a Miles Morland Scholarship in 2014. Her second novel, The Woman Next Door, was shortlisted for the 2017 University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Literature, the Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize and the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award. It was longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and was finalist in 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction. Her latest novel, An Unusual Grief, published in 2021, was longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award 2023, Republic of Consciousness Prize 2023 and shortlisted for Sunday Times Fiction Prize in South Africa 2023. More at: https://www.yewandeomotoso.com/; IG/X: @yomotoso| FB: Yewande Omotoso
