By Anote Ajeluorou
Lead photo: Ayo Oyeku (left); moderator, Amara Chiemeka and Uwem Akpan at CORA-NLNG Book Party for The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025… in Lagos
IT’S a routine question at each year’s edition of CORA-NLNG Book Party that heralds the award ceremony of The Nigeria Prize for Literature scheduled for October 10, 2025: what will the USD$100,000 prize money do to your career as a writer? Or put different: how would you spend the prize money if you were to win it? Of course, the responses are usually as varied as the writers on the longlist. Some just want to go on a shopping spree. Others think of humanitarian endeavours. Others want to disengage from the many jobs and side hustles that tend to inhibit their writing craft and concentrate on writing fulltime. But on the night of August 3, two writers – Uwem Akpan (New York, My Village) and Ayo Oyeku (Perichor: The Scent of a New Beginning) – toed different paths from the regular norm.
When asked what he’d do with the prize money if he were to win it, Akpan expressed heartfelt gratitude to the prize organisers, NLNG, for providing a credible reward platform for writers to gather every year to talk about their works. He said that while some loudly criticised NLNG about the prize process, the organisers should be assured of a silent majority who support what it was doing for writers and continue doing its noble work for Nigerian writers. Instead, he turned the heat on the critics and tasked them to enlist the help of other corporations to invest in Nigerian arts and culture, be it literature, music, sculpture or other art forms, so as to expand the recognition and reward base of the creative sector.
“I want to use this chance to thank the NLNG corporation,” Akpan said while expressing gratitude to prize organisers, NLNG. “I’m very grateful, we are very grateful, that each year you gather us to celebrate our dreams and our work. We are very grateful. You may not know what this means to the literary community in Nigeria. Most of the people who speak up may criticise you that you’re not doing enough, but the silent majority of us, knowing what is at stake, we are very grateful. It’s not rich people who help others; it’s generous people who help others. Hence the parable of the widow’s mite.
“What I would like to say to you (critics of the prize), when you meet other rich corporations at your meetings, remind them of us, that they could also do something to help us – it could be in music, could be in sculpture – the more of this we have the better for the country. So we are grateful that you (NLNG) see us.”
Akpan simply said being on the longlist and meeting so many people in the course of the Book Party and the huge publicity it has attracted to his work was more than he’d expected and couldn’t be grateful enough to the prize organiser, NLNG.
“How would this prize help me?” he asked rhetorically. “Just being on this longlist, I’m very happy. I’ve got to meet, for the first time, people I have never met before. I don’t know what more to say. This publicity is good for me, which means if I were to win, it will be more publicity. I leave that in the hands of the judges. I just can’t thank NLNG enough. Thank you.”
For Oyeku, the Book Party was a moment to remember Nigeria’s underserved literary community that always falls through the cracks in major literary outings, where they are usually left behind. He said he would like to extend part of his largesse to this literary community if he were to win the prize on October 10.
“I will just echo the words of Uwem Akpan, but in another direction,” Oyeku offered. “The Nigeria Prize for Literature, maybe in the future, but presently it may not cater to the large community of writers that we have. I will give an example. We have speculative fiction writers; it’s a growing community, and over the years, you hardly see them being featured on either the longlist or shortlist. So the first thing that came to my mind was what Jumoke Verissimo said, that The Nigeria Prize for Literature, being run by the NLNG, is not the Arts Council. So if I get the money, I will try to see how to extend this largesse to this community of writers, because we don’t want this community of writers to die, because not all of us can make it to this longlist. Some would never make it to the longlist.
“We have the community of fiction writers, speculative fiction writers, Africa futurism writers; we have large communities like that, and I feel that out of the money I get, I know it’s hard, but it will be possible to extend it to them to spur their talent and keep it growing, so that they can keep writing.”
Most importantly for Oyeku was the need for the books on the longlist to enjoy the patronage of readers, as it would encourage them the more. He anchored his plea on the fact that not everyone on the longlist would win the prize, but they could enjoy the patronage that could come from buying the books. He also enthused about his parents, particular his father, for supporting and encouraging his writing career.
“And for the reason we are here – the longlisted writers and their books – please, go out there and support and buy our books,” Oyeku urged the audience. “There are 11 longlisted writers and their publishers are here. Go out there and buy the books. That’s what really make authors to be happy. It’s good to be here, but it makes a lot of sense if you can support them by buying their books here tonight.
“Lastly, the talent that I have today I owe it to my parents, particularly my dad. He has always encouraged me. I was on the longlist last year and he said, ‘don’t worry. Go back and do it one more time.’ And that has been very encouraging. If I do win, will share a large chunk of the money with him.”
Only Akpan and Oyeku were on ground for the CORA-NLNG Book Party while the remaining writers, all based abroad, joined the party virtually. They included Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (When We Were Fireflies), Chigozie Obioma (The Road to the Country), Linda Masi (Fine Dreams), Chika Unigwe (The Middle Daughter) and Chioma Okereke (Water Baby). Others were Nikki May (This Motherless Land), Yewande Omotosho (An Unusual Grief), Oyin Olugbile (Sanya) and Michael Afenfia (Leave My Bones in Saskatoon).