IN respect of the recently unveiled longlist of 11 for the 2025 Nigeria Prize for Literature, the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) in collaboration with the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), will stage the 16th edition of the CORA-NPL Book Party on Sunday, August 3, at the Lagos Continental Hotel, 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 debuted 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 Wednesday by CORA programme officer, Samuel Osaze, the remarkable quality of the 2025 entries is reflected in the calibre 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.”
He added, “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
“Since 2010, the 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 eleven 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 eleven 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”, stated CORA Programme directorate.
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 2025 Nigeria Prize for Literature.
When We Were Fireflies: Synopsis
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 deth 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/
ABUBAKAR ADAM IBRAHIM: Profile
CREATIVE writer and journalist, Adam’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: Synopsis
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/
AYO OYEKU: Profile
AN Ebedi International Residency Fellow and a Humanitarian Leadership Fellow, Ayo 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.
More at: https://books.google.com.ng/books/about/What_Happened_on_Thursday.html?id
******
The Road to the Country: Synopsis
SET in Nigeria in the 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 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/
CHIGOZIE OBIOMA: Profile
A WRITER, described by Salman Rushdie calls “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.