ktravula – a travelogue!

On “A Good Mourning” by Ogaga Ifowodo

As promised, here is my take on the first book on the shortlist of the NLNG-sponsored Nigerian Prize for literature 2017. The book is A Good Mourning (Paressia, 2016) by Ogaga Ifowodo. Ifowodo is a poet and writer, who taught poetry and literature in English at Texas State University, San Marcos, USA. He holds the Master of Fine Art (MFA) in poetry and Ph.D from Cornell University, New York. He studied law at the University of Benin and worked for eight years as a rights activist with Nigeria’s premier non-governmental rights group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO). Between 1997 and 1998, he was held in preventive detention for six months under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.

I’m ashamed to admit that, until now, I hadn’t read anything by that poet with a striking physical resemblance to James Baldwin. But no matter where I have turned, his name had shown up there, from conversations on social media to arguments in closed listservs. Until recently, I also didn’t know that he had served in government in some capacity and that he once contested for (and failed to win) a House seat from his home constituency.

So, I approached his work with an open mind. The title of the book A Good Mourning carried a curious double-edged sword of meaning that intrigued anyone from afar. The cover conveyed darkness as does the paradox of the title itself. If it is “mourning”, how is it also “good”? And how does it contrast with what we have grown to expect when we hear the phrase, devoid of the physical surprise of the spelling difference?

The work does not disappoint. The copy I got was loaned to me by Doctor-Poet Dami Àjàyí to whom the writer had autographed it in 2016: “Good morning & poetry”. I hadn’t found a copy anywhere else that I had looked, inviting conversations to the recurring topic of accessibility of books to the general public before they are selected for the Nigerian Prize. (It is a ridiculous argument, to be clear. The prize is set up to reward excellence, not distribution savvy. But it does raise valid questions about why publishers in 2017 haven’t yet heard of the Kindle, eBooks, and an authentically Nigerian electronic book distribution system called OkadaBooks which can put the books at the literal fingertips of millions of people via their mobile phones).

A Good Mourning is an impressive book that is marked by competence, style, grace, and a distinct authentic voice. It is that competence that I intend to dwell on a bit more because some of the snide remarks about the shortlist had focused on what they regarded as substandard work on the shortlist. Thankfully none had mentioned Ogaga’s name in the diatribes. He is a competent voice whose work leaves no one in doubt of his facility with words, dexterity with decades of African and modern poetic traditions, and sincerity in the pursuit of his numerous truths and points of view.

The poems delight, inspire, provoke, entertain, and intrigue. They cover a range of themes that, contrary to the expectation that the poems in the collection will all be morose and depressing, excite and titillate. In one poem Ten Hours (page 8), the poet describes an appendectomy in a German hospital with such mischief and lexical dexterity that what one feels isn’t just breathless anxiety of a man hanging between life and death but a playful appreciation of the affectation of the doctors’ efficiency and their terrible grasp of English (one confuses “rupture” for “rapture”). He asks for the piece of his gut back, on regaining consciousness, and was told that it had been cut up, and it will no longer, as he had hoped, become

pickled in a beaker,

displayed in bookcase at eye-level

for breaking barren moments,

getting guests to know me inside out.

These kinds of unexpected levity litter the book in random places, turning what was billed as a melancholic take on national life into a delightful, thorough, and serious look at different issues in one citizen’s life.

In the following poem, a serious religious ceremony is gently mocked.

Once an alter boy, he pined for wine

and wafer, not communion with the Lord

Too young for the mysteries of eating God’s

flesh and drinking his blood, he prayed only:

Lord, let this cup pass to me!

The priest sent him out of the holy sanctuary.

You get the idea.

Actually, you don’t.

Ifowodo does this effortlessly throughout the work, especially in places where seriousness is expected. It almost seems like the whole book is an attempt at shattering gloomy expectations. Or else a practical interrogation of life as comprising of both gloom and levity, mixed in the right dosage, waiting to be teased out by the right inquisitor.

The title poem was dedicated to Chief Moshood Káṣìmawò Abíọ́lá. It reads like a recap of history, with snide barbs reserved for players and villains, living or dead.

The false-star general

was first to flee his stolen throne

seeking refuge in a hilltop mansion

built with stolen money.

Since the book was published in 2016, there will be questions about why the author chose now as a good time to write about the June 12 crises, and why the title poem takes about ten pages (37-46) to tell us what we already know about an event whose significance has now almost paled against the background of even more pressing matters. (I asked him about this in our interview. More on this later)

What won’t be asked is whether the work was well written – because it was. In four different sections, Ifowodo explores what it means to be human, with a diverse range of fascinating experiences over many decades and many geographical spaces. The poems are as experimental as they are traditional (though he notably avoids any attempt at rhyming). The book is described as the author’s “reflections on the intimacy of evil anchored in the brazen military annulment in 1993 of the will of the Nigerian people to self-representation…”. I will not argue here with his choice of description of his own work and aspiration, but the work appeared to me more like a nuanced mosaic of a yet unfolding, if rich and fascinating, life of the author himself.

The outward-facing and ambiguous appearance of the title and its however belated tribute to the memory of June 12 will be important in inviting in a curious reader, but won’t be what keeps them. That will be the delightful competence, playfulness, and dexterity of the writer’s voice. I will mark A Good Mourning down as a very strong contender for this year’s prize, but that’s not saying anything since it is already on the shortlist of three. A more specific compliment will be that it is certainly one of the stronger two on the list.

______

The video of my interview with the author can be found here. The prize announcement will be made on October 9, 2017.

Reviewing the 2017 Nigerian Literature Prize Trio

I have just finished reading the third of the books on the 2017 Nigerian Prize for Literature shortlist, and I’m overwhelmed by the range, depth, and quality of their offerings. It is such an impressive collection.

When I started, last week, with one of the books, I was sure that I had found the winning work. But after having read the three, I’m no longer that certain. Each book brings to the table an array of class, style, content, beauty, and a lot of pedigree. Contrary to social media jabber, I can say that this is an impressive shortlist, each writer deserving of their place on it.

In the next couple of days, perhaps one per day, I hope to post my thoughts on each these books as I see them.

Needless to say, reviews and criticism of works selected for public fêting are essential to the growth of a literary industry. From Facebook to Twitter, we have seen no shortage of individual opinions on the Nigerian Prize, its shortcomings, and other matters. What we haven’t found are sustained conversations about each of the works shortlisted. Aside from book readings organized by Cora and sometimes by NLNG itself, there haven’t been many avenues to engage with the work and the writers themselves. Not even in our newspapers, except for scattered profiles and op-eds on the nature of prizes. And that is a shame.

One of the reasons the Caine Prize (and other prizes smaller than it) have earned such a reputation as important relevant prize institutions is the level of engagement that each of their annual prize seasons brings to literature and to the writers themselves. We can complain all we want about what NLNG is or isn’t doing, but as an industry of writers, much of the fault lay with us and our inability to engage in a constructive, intellectually satisfying way when it comes to book shortlists. It is not the size of the prize pot that brings prestige to a prize. It is the type of value that the conversations around the prize add to the standard of subsequent entrants which then hopefully spirals forward into an improved culture and tradition of writing across the country. Without critical attention on a sustained basis, we are equally as complicit in whatever downward spiral attends our inactivity.

Tomorrow on Lagos Island, I will be engaging the three writers in a televised interview. I intend to post the full videos here when they are ready. I also intend to talk with the prize administrators, as well as a member of the prize advisory on a number of issues that have been raised over the years about the prize and its role in shaping the writing culture around Nigeria.

But before then, watch out for my review of each of the three books on the 2017 shortlist.

___

UPDATE (September 25, 2017)

The first review is of Ogaga Ifowodo’s A Good Mourning. Read it here.

Memahami Platform Slot Online Modern dan Pengalaman Bermain di Era Digital

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Memahami Istilah dalam Permainan Slot Digital

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Variasi Mekanisme Permainan

Dari sisi mekanisme, terdapat banyak konsep permainan yang menggunakan koko303 gulungan tradisional, simbol yang dapat berkembang, kombinasi berantai, fitur bonus, hingga multiplier tertentu. Beberapa permainan masih mempertahankan struktur tiga gulungan yang familiar, sedangkan lainnya menggunakan lebih banyak baris dengan kombinasi yang semakin kompleks. Perpaduan mekanisme tersebut dapat membuat permainan terasa lebih dinamis, terutama ketika dikombinasikan koko33.top dengan transisi animasi, efek visual, dan audio yang dirancang secara khusus.

Pengalaman Mobile dan Akses Digital

Perkembangan lain yang cukup terasa adalah semakin banyaknya platform koko5000 yang mengutamakan pengalaman mobile. Pengguna smartphone saat ini umumnya mengharapkan sebuah situs dapat berjalan mulus di layar berukuran kecil tanpa proses instalasi yang ribet. Konsep responsive design memungkinkan tombol, menu, jendela permainan, serta bagian akun menyesuaikan ukuran layar secara otomatis. Dengan begitu, pengalaman ketika mengakses platform melalui koko5000.link smartphone, tablet, maupun laptop dapat terasa lebih konsisten.

Kecepatan akses juga menjadi salah satu faktor penting dalam ekosistem koko5000.sbs saat ini. Pengguna sudah terbiasa dengan situs yang dapat dibuka dengan cepat serta memiliki struktur navigasi yang jelas. Sebaliknya, menu yang membingungkan, terlalu banyak iklan, halaman yang rusak, atau respons sistem yang lambat dapat membuat pengalaman menjadi kurang nyaman. Karena itu, berbagai layanan gaming modern cenderung mengembangkan interface kokogacor77.sbs yang lebih clean dan praktis, bukan sekadar memenuhi halaman dengan materi promosi.

Informasi Teknis dalam Permainan

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Return to Player atau RTP

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Volatilitas Permainan

Selain RTP, terdapat pula istilah volatilitas yang membantu menjelaskan karakteristik suatu permainan. Permainan dengan volatilitas lebih tinggi dapat dirancang dengan kemungkinan hasil yang lebih jarang tetapi memiliki nilai potensial lebih besar. Sementara itu, permainan dengan volatilitas lebih rendah dapat memiliki hasil yang cenderung lebih kecil namun muncul dengan frekuensi berbeda. Kedua kategori tersebut tetap tidak memberikan jaminan keuntungan karena setiap putaran merupakan kejadian yang tidak dapat dijadikan kepastian berdasarkan hasil sebelumnya.

Memahami Konsep Jackpot dan Mode Demo

Istilah “jackpot” juga sangat populer dalam pembahasan mengenai game digital. Beberapa permainan mempunyai hadiah utama dengan nilai yang sudah ditentukan, sementara permainan lainnya dapat menggunakan sistem prize pool progresif yang berubah berdasarkan aturan tertentu. Besarnya hadiah yang ditampilkan dalam sebuah promosi tidak otomatis berarti peluang mendapatkannya juga besar. Oleh sebab itu, pengguna perlu membedakan antara nilai hadiah maksimum yang ditawarkan dengan probabilitas untuk memperoleh hadiah tersebut.

Mode demo juga menjadi fitur yang cukup umum ditemukan pada sejumlah platform pulsa303.link permainan digital. Jika tersedia, mode ini memungkinkan pengguna mengenali interface dan memahami mekanisme dasar permainan tanpa harus menggunakan dana sungguhan. Fitur tersebut dapat membantu pengguna mempelajari paylines, simbol, ronde bonus, serta berbagai fungsi lainnya dengan lebih santai. Namun, hasil dari mode demo tidak dapat dijadikan bukti bahwa hasil yang sama akan terjadi ketika permainan melibatkan uang sungguhan.

Keamanan Akun dan Legitimasi Platform

Bersamaan dengan berkembangnya online gaming, perhatian terhadap keamanan akun dan legitimasi platform juga semakin penting. Pengguna sebaiknya berhati-hati terhadap situs yang menawarkan janji terlalu fantastis, memberikan tekanan agar seseorang segera melakukan deposit, atau meminta informasi pribadi yang tidak relevan. Memeriksa informasi lisensi, syarat dan ketentuan, kebijakan privasi, batas usia, aturan pembayaran, serta ketentuan responsible gaming dapat membantu memberikan gambaran yang lebih jelas mengenai cara sebuah platform beroperasi.

Bahasa Promosi dan Informasi Pemasaran

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Peran Teknologi dalam Gaming Modern

Teknologi turut memberikan pengaruh besar terhadap cara permainan digital dikembangkan virtusplay.link. Resolusi grafis yang semakin tinggi, performa browser yang lebih baik, infrastruktur berbasis cloud, sistem animasi modern, serta desain audio yang semakin detail memungkinkan developer menciptakan pengalaman yang jauh berbeda dibandingkan game digital generasi lama. Beberapa platform bahkan menghadirkan interface yang lebih personal, sistem pencapaian, turnamen, serta fitur engagement lainnya untuk membuat interaksi pengguna terasa lebih dinamis.

Pentingnya Batas Pribadi dan Penggunaan Bertanggung Jawab

Di sisi lain, kemudahan akses online membuat seseorang dapat menghabiskan lebih banyak waktu di lingkungan hiburan digital tanpa batas fisik seperti yang terdapat pada tempat permainan konvensional. Karena itu, batas pribadi menjadi semakin penting. Menentukan anggaran, mengatur durasi bermain, tidak berusaha mengejar kembali kerugian sebelumnya, serta mengambil jeda secara berkala merupakan beberapa langkah yang dapat membantu menjaga aktivitas hiburan berbasis gambling tetap berada dalam batas yang lebih terkendali.

Usia, Regulasi, dan Wilayah Hukum

Aturan usia dan regulasi lokal juga tidak boleh dianggap sepele. Ketentuan mengenai perjudian online berbeda-beda secara signifikan di setiap negara, negara bagian, provinsi, maupun wilayah hukum lainnya. Sebuah layanan mungkin diperbolehkan di satu wilayah tetapi belum tentu memiliki izin yang sama di wilayah lain. Karena itu, pengguna perlu memeriksa peraturan yang berlaku di lokasi masing-masing dan tidak menganggap sebuah platform otomatis legal hanya karena situs tersebut dapat dibuka melalui internet.

Perkembangan Bahasa dan Tren Slot Online

Bahasa yang digunakan dalam industri slot online pun terus berubah mengikuti perkembangan teknologi. Istilah seperti mobile-first, instant access, live interface, responsive design, demo mode, bonus feature, volatility, RTP, dan digital wallet semakin sering digunakan ketika orang membahas pengalaman gaming modern. Di waktu yang sama, berbagai slang dari media sosial dan komunitas online ikut berkembang sehingga tercipta perpaduan antara istilah teknis dengan bahasa sehari-hari yang lebih santai.

Memahami Permainan Berbasis Peluang

Pada akhirnya, platform slot online modern dapat dipahami sebagai sistem hiburan https://www.ktravula.com/2017/09/random-memory-of-pranking/ yang menggunakan mekanisme permainan berbasis peluang. Tampilan visualnya mungkin semakin keren, interface-nya bisa sangat praktis, dan kampanye promosinya dapat dibuat sangat engaging. Namun, unsur ketidakpastian tetap menjadi bagian fundamental dari permainan berbasis peluang. Tidak ada interface, strategi, prediksi, ataupun hasil sebelumnya yang dapat menjamin hasil tertentu pada permainan yang bersifat acak.

Bagi siapa pun yang sedang mempelajari industri ini, pendekatan yang lebih masuk akal adalah melihat melampaui headline dan promosi yang terdengar bombastis. Memahami mekanisme permainan, statistik teoritis, keamanan platform, regulasi yang berlaku, serta prinsip penggunaan secara bertanggung jawab akan memberikan gambaran yang lebih realistis mengenai layanan tersebut. Dunia hiburan digital memang berkembang dengan cepat, tetapi pengguna yang cermat tetap perlu memahami perbedaan antara presentasi yang menarik dengan hasil yang benar-benar dapat dijamin.

Perkembangan Online Gaming di Tahun 2026

Memasuki perkembangan ekosistem online gaming sepanjang 2026, platform digital kemungkinan akan terus berfokus pada akses mobile, interface yang semakin cepat, visual yang lebih immersive, pilihan permainan yang lebih luas, serta pengalaman pengguna yang semakin polished. Teknologinya boleh terus berubah, tetapi prinsip dasarnya tetap relevan: baca informasi dengan teliti, pahami mekanisme permainan, periksa aturan yang berlaku di wilayah masing-masing, lindungi data pribadi, dan selalu ingat bahwa permainan berbasis peluang tidak menyediakan jaminan keuntungan finansial.

184 Poets Vie for the Nigerian Literature Prize

Today in Ikeja, the entries for this year’s NLNG Nigerian Literature Prize were delivered to the judges at an open ceremony. They contained entries by one hundred and eighty-four (184) Nigerian poets vying for the Literature Prize and five (5) literary critics vying for the Prize for Literary Criticism. The two categories are worth $100,000 and N1 million respectively.

“The hand-over of the entries to the Advisory Board, chaired by Professor Emeritus Ayọ̀ Bánjọ, signifies the beginning of the judging process which culminates in the announcement of the winner in October 2017,” reads the press release put out after the event.

Handing over the entries, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke and Professor Ayọ̀ Bánjọ. Photo: SabiNews

Handing over the entries, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, said the prize has inspired some 1,630 books of which 533, representing 32%, were submitted in the Poetry category since the inception of the prize in 2004.

It continues:

“The number of entries for the 2017 edition exceeded the 2016 numbers, showing a six percent rise in the number of entries received…. The entries… will be examined on their merits of excellence in language, creativity and book quality.”

The panel of judges for this year’s awards is led by Professor Ernest Emenyonu who is a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Michigan-Flint. He was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Calabar between 1988 and 1990, and Provost (Chief Executive) Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, between 1992 and 1996. He has taught in several Nigerian and American universities.

Other judges are Dr. Razinat Mohammed and Tádé Ìpàdéọlá. Dr. Mohammed is an Associate Professor of Literature at the University of Maiduguri. She teaches African Literature with specialization in Feminist Literary Criticism and Theoretical Approaches. She is an accomplished writer as well. Tádé Ìpàdéọlá won the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2013 in the Poetry category with his third volume of poetry, The Sahara Testament. A poet and a lawyer, Ìpàdéọlá has won several awards and is a resource person for the Rockefeller Foundation around Africa on building resilience.

Members of the Advisory Board for the Literature Prize, besides Professor Bánjọ, two-time Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, are Prof. Jerry Agada, former Minister of State for Education, former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and Professor Emeritus Ben Elugbe, former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and president of the West-African Linguistic Society (2004-2013).

“The Nigeria Prize for Literature has since 2005 rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara (co-winner, 2005, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-winner, 2005, poetry); Ahmed Yerima (2006, drama) for his classic, Hard Ground; Mabel Sẹ́gun (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 (2008, prose); Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adélékè Adéyẹmí (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012 – prose), with her novel, On Black Sister’s Street; Tádé Ìpàdéọlá (2013; Poetry) with his collection of poems, Sahara Testaments and Sam Ukala (2014; Drama) with Iredi War,” the press release concluded.

The Nigerian for Literature is Africa’s biggest prize with a cash reward of $100,000, which rotates yearly amongst four literary categories of prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature.

In Pursuit of a Canon

One of the issues that came out of the conversation, yesterday, at the Q&A part of the Press Conference to announce the winner of the Nigeria (LNG) Prize for Literature is whether the judges on the award panel are too old to understand contemporary literature. It was an indirect hit in form of a question from one of the journalists in the room about the currency of the judges’ knowledge about current trends. But the chair of the advisory council, Professor Ayọ̀ Bánjọ, picked up the snark and addressed it fully, defending his team’s savvy and curiosity: “Because we’re old doesn’t mean that we don’t know what is going on. We try to keep up.” Or something to that effect.

But he also went on to suggest that the public make their work easier (if not also superfluous) by generating sufficient debate around each year’s long-listed (and shortlisted) works in order to enrich the canon with smart takes, appraisal, and criticism of each of the work during and after the process of the Prize announcement. He said, and I’m paraphrasing, If you don’t engage the work and create an industry of conversations around them and around the trade, we as judges, may be denied an opportunity to be familiar what is new, and we’d be forced instead to judge the works we are given by the standards with which we are familiar, which may not always be modern. It was both a humble cry for help and a smart take on the state of literary criticism in the country.

Perhaps aware of a criticism of the Prize as being rich in money but not in the elevation of the craft, Professor Bánjọ was throwing the challenge back to the community to not leave the important work of the whole process – criticism, which enhances the value of the work and engages the audience on a second level – to the judges alone. Notable was the fact that no one was rewarded this year with the prize for Literary Criticism which had always been a part of the annual award.

He has a point. Many writers who have won the Nigerian Prize – as also pointed out by another questioner – have gone into oblivion with no follow-up work, as if the cash payout of the award had delivered a knockout punch to their creative ability or drive. Certainly, the point can be made that if the work of past winners of such a prestigious prize do not gain more critical interest after such an honour, or increase in sales at the bookstores, or even show up in more quantity on book stands as a result of the award boost, the Prize would have failed in a major way. And what creates this kind of interest is not just the distribution of the books at the award ceremony as the NLNG already does, or a donation of copies to public libraries which is also a good thing, but a critical engagement by other writers and critics of each work as soon as the long list is made, and before/after the award winner is announced.

This is where the indictment of the community is deserved.

The Caine Prize is a much smaller prize in terms of cash reward, but has been deemed way more prestigious across the continent for its sustenance of critical conversation on African literary production though it only rewards writers working in the short story form. There is a couple of reasons for that. The prize has an active online engagement strategy that covers the continent, involves the writing community, and stays connected to the source of important conversations regarding the writers it shortlists. It also has an annual retreat/writer’s workshop in which writers are made to produce works that are then published as an annual anthology. It does this on a budget most likely smaller than that of a prize that awards $100k to an individual every year.

But perhaps more importantly, for the Caine Prize, is that writers and critics also pay attention to each shortlisted story, which are usually carefully reviewed online before the prize announcement. Notable among these annual exercises is the Caine Prize Blogathon founded by Aaron Bady through which interested critics take on each or all of the shortlisted stories each year, and review them individually and as against the criteria of the prize. I have been a part of this exercise since 2013 and enjoyed the process, which brings me much closer to the works than I would ordinarily have. We’d never know how much this annual exercise affects the decision of the judges, but responses to past editions of the Blogathon shows that the large literary community across the continent does pay attention to what is being said and how. It enriches the profession, helps the writers, benefits the readers interested in critical engagement, and makes the prize better.

We need the same for the Nigerian Prize for Literature. All shortlisted books should be made available for free – if possible – to interested reviewers for critical engagement on online and print platforms. Maybe it will make the prize better. But certainly, it will enrich the community of Nigerian readers, and writers.

The Nigerian Prize For Literature 2016: The Judges’ Report

Editor’s note: Today, at Sheraton Hotel, Ikẹjà, Lagos, the winner of the 2016 Nigeria Prize for Literature was announced as Abubakar Adam Ibrahim for his novel Season of Crimson Blossoms (Parressia, 2015) and for the “competent manner in which Ibrahim demonstrated the execution of his work.” Here is the full speech given by Emeritus Professor Ayọ̀ Bánjọ, the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Prize, on the justification for the prize, and other commentary on the whole judging process.

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GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT THE 2016 COMPETITION BY PROFESSOR AYỌ BÁNJỌ

The Nigeria Prize for Literature is an annual competition which awards annual prizes to winning entries in the literary genres of Prose Fiction, Drama, Poetry and Children’s Literature on a rotational basis.

This year, the genre in focus is Prose Fiction. The following advertised rules were applied during the process of short listing and selecting the winning entry.

Eligibility: The competition is open to all Nigerians anywhere in the world. This does not mean that writing about other peoples and cultures in a foreign setting is acceptable.

Relevance should be interpreted as consistency with the goals and aspirations of the Nigerian nation and its peoples – specifically, respect for their traditions and their identity as Africans.

Publishing: The prize is meant to encourage local publishing and book distribution, among other goals. Books published outside the country are eligible for entry. Only properly published texts are acceptable. However, efficient editing and good presentation of text are considered essential parts of publishing and are taken into account during the process of evaluation. The quality of the language is important, and errors of style and grammar are considered major blemishes; these errors may not pass as typographical errors.

Genre: for this year’s competition, a basic distinction is drawn between fiction – that is imaginative prose which may incorporate factual materials and non-fiction like history, biography and sociological tracts which sometimes feature in the submissions for the competition.

This year’s completion has attracted a strong field with such high quality that even without this current shortlist of 3 books there would have still been a winner.

COMMENTS ON SHORTLIST OF THREE BOOKS

All the three shortlisted texts cover a wide range of urgent societal and cultural issues such as the status of women in a patriarchal society, the education of youths, the search for identity, the danger of youth unemployment, corruption, insurgency, religious hypocrisy, migration, broken homes and single parenthood and attendant impact on women and children who are usually at the receiving end of most of these problems.

Chika Unigwe’s Night Dancer, tells the familiar story of the continuing marginalization of women in Igbo society. The author shows a strong awareness of this context by the flavoring of the narrative with linguistic and cultural insertions. The novel tells the story of Mma, a young woman’s anguished search for her roots from the opening of the novel when she feels that she has been denied by her mother, until she gradually discovers that her mother had been deeply hurt by both her matrimonial and maiden families. In the course of Mma’s adventures in excavating her identity and her mother’s past, she is predictably confronted by the same cultural inhibitions that her mother had rebelled against. Mma’s own denunciation of those traditions and her belated adulation of a mother she had despised at the beginning of the novel is a slow and painful process of discovering the truth of her family background, and a radical change in her perception and understanding of this background. All this is aimed at validating Unigwe’s passionate call for the extension of the frontiers of women’s space in society.
Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday is a book about contemporary Northern Nigerian Society as seen through the eyes of a young man. The narrative is told from within a deviant community seen through the first person consciousness of street boys, popularly described as al-majiri. Virtually abandoned by parents and community the young boy, who tells the story in his own words, finds his survival through a brotherhood of other street boys. Their small outcast community is exploited by politicians and the brutally victimized as scapegoats by law enforcement agencies. They inevitably patronized and taken over by leaders of religious sects and become a source of recruitment terrorist groups. One of the strong points of the novel is its insight into the social mechanisms that lead to national crisis and terrorism or the social processes that give rise to religious fundamentalism and political hypocrisy, corruption and exploitation.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Season of Crimson Blossoms is a very skillful and sympathetic narrative handling of a most psychologically and emotionally painful between an aging widow, who seeks release from her culturally imposed sexual repression, and a young outcast leader of a group of “weed” – i.e. hard drug – dealers who are ready thugs for politicians. In the background as immediately cause of the widow’s troubles, is the violent history of ethnic hatred and conflicts in Jos, placed within the larger context of contemporary Nigerian history with its complex and sometimes violent intertwining of politics, religion and culture. The novel moves from its evocative and passionate first sentence through a web of anxious moments to a tragic and painful conclusion with hardly a moment of respite. All through its projects through is main action, the implications of certain key social issues for younger audience – key issues such as early marriage, drug abuse and impact of relationships on human action. It is a novel whose narrow domestic action has wider universal relevance beyond its relevance for its immediate setting.

On behalf of the advisory board of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and of the judges and international consultant, I have the pleasure of announcing as the winner of this year’s entry, Season of Crimson Blossoms by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.

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The award ceremony will take place early next year.

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