FOR THE NIGERIA LITERATURE PRIZE’S CONTENDERS, A ‘HEROES’ PARTY’…

From a pandemic-induced break, the CORA-Nigeria Literature Prize’s Book Party returns physically, full of promise for a more vibrant literary scene. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes

So, finally, the Book Party – Nigeria’s literary community’s one-of-kind platform for the glamourisation of reading culture – has re-emerged from its pandemic-enforced retreat! This was last Sunday, August 8, at Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos. For a literary community, which had to settle for its Zoom edition on October 8, last year, this was something worth cheering about.

About that last year’s virtual edition, the Committee for Relevant Arts’ secretary-general, Toyin Akinosho explained that it “was meant to be a symbolic gathering, [and] to make the statement that the Virus would not defeat the pursuit of a noble cause such as the Nigeria Prize for Literature.”

This, therefore, was why the 12th edition of the event – first held at the former Goethe-Institut’s seaside premises in Victoria Island in 2010 – continued its tradition of lionising the literary prize’s potential laureates. It became the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) -The Nigeria Prize for Literature partnership’s child of necessity after a review of the prize’s initial five years (from 2004 to 2009) had exposed the rents in its glitzy raiment. “Sympathisers of the award argued that the NLNG Ltd, through NPL, could not alone wipe out the entrenched challenges of the Nigerian literary landscape,” Akinosho recalled.

Since then, the Book Party has remained an annual event, which according to the Nigeria LNG Limited’s General Manager, External Relations, Eyono Fatayi-Williams “has assumed a life of its own in the administration of the prize, as it showcases to Nigerians the top eleven books for each competition year.”

While the event’s last pre-pandemic physical edition, held in 2019 at the MUSON Centre in Lagos Island, was a celebration of the shortlisted writers for children’s literature, this year’s featured the shortlisted for prose fiction. It is, after all, now common knowledge among the prize’s cognoscenti that the organisers play musical chairs annually with the four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. This means that right from its inception in 2004, the prize’s spotlight has been shifting from one of these genres to the other.

Unfortunately, the last year’s intrusion of the pandemic slightly altered the prize’s rotating schedule. Thus, the organisers were forced to shift their planned spotlight on prose fiction to this year, since according to Mrs Fatayi-Williams, “the restrictions occasioned by the pandemic … hampered submission of entries within the allowed window.”

This explains why the following 11 books on the initial shortlist are prose fiction works: Delusion of Patriots by Obianuju V. Chukwuorji, Give Us Each Day by Samuel Monye, Imminent River by Anaele Ihuoma, In the Name of Our Father by Olukorede S. Yisha, Mountain of Yesterday by Tony Nwaka, Neglected by Lucy Chiamaka Okwuma, The Colours of Hatred by Obinna Udenwa, The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare, The Return of Half- Something, by Chukwudi Eze, The Son of The House by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia and Your Church My Shrine by Law Ikay Ezeh.

With these 11 eyes on the prize, it would be so easy to forget why the prize – which today remains the continent’s most prestigious – was instituted in the first place. Who wouldn’t after all be enamoured by its winner-takes-all cash value worth $100,000? “The prize money makes the competition to be as keen as some of the most prestigious Lit prizes on the planet, but what writers want, primarily, is to distinguish themselves with magical writing and gain a wide audience in the event,” argued Akinosho, thus making a strong case for the relevance of the Book Party.

Offering what Mrs Fatayi-Williams called “a cursory insight into the quality of works selected by the panel of judges”, the real highlights of the Book Party are the reading of excerpts from the shortlisted books by renowned screen and stage actors and a discussion panel featuring the contestants, which was moderated by Arise TV’s Rufai Oseni, who is an author of nine books. All the other activities – including the buffet dinner, light entertainment and speeches – were only tangential.

It is indeed an event, which according to the NLNG’s Manager, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Dr Sophia Horsfall, “brought to life the value of literature to our reading community – enlightenment, entertainment, and education.”

Through its annual consistency, the event, which is one of the several organised by CORA to preface its annual Lagos Book and Art Festival, not only gradually engraves itself in the literary community’s consciousness, but also wins more adherents to the book cause.

Back to the prize, the 11 contestants only made up an initial shortlist, which many in the literary circles would rather call a longlist. It was culled from 202 entries in contention for this year’s – 2021 – edition of the NLNG-sponsored prize. Expected sometime in September is another shortlist of three contestants, from which a winner could emerge. “Could”, because the prize has on three non-consecutive years – 2004, 2009 and 2015 – surprised the literati with no-winner verdicts.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature – which has been increased from $20,000 to $30,000 in 2006, and to $50,000 in 2008, before it was eventually increased to $100,000 in 2011 – has nonetheless so far produced such eminent winners as Gabriel Okara (co-winner, 2005, poetry) for The Dreamer, His Vision; Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto, for his volume of poetry, Chants of a Minstrel (co-winner, 2005, poetry) and Ahmed Yerima (2005, drama) for his classic, Hard Ground. The other winners are Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) with her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary with her book, Yellow Yellow (2008, prose); Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who won the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sister’s Street; Tade Ipadeola (2013, poetry) with his collection of poems, The Sahara Testaments; Professor Sam Ukala (2014, drama) with his play, Iredi War; Abubakar Adam Ibrahim with his novel Season of Crimson Blossoms (2016, prose); Ikeogu Oke with his collection of poetry, The Heresiad; (2017, poetry); Soji Cole with his play, Embers (2018, drama); and Jude Idada with his book, Boom, Boom (2019, Children Literature).

In any case, it is expected that by October, the Professor Toyin Jegede-led judging panel should announce the prize’s overall winner alongside the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism (also sponsored by NLNG), which is valued at N1 million.