Three Poets, One Big Prize — And Three Very Different Ways Of Seeing Nigeria

There is something rather beautiful about this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature shortlist. Three poets have arrived at the final table, but they have taken very different roads to get there.

James Ngwu Eze is a poet, journalist and cultural organiser who seems determined to make poetry live beyond the page. His debut collection, dis-possessed, won the 2020 Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize. He also founded the Udala Nation Project, bringing poetry and music together. Now, Unbind Me Now places him among the final three, with poems confronting injustice, memory and a troubled world.

Ogaga Ifowodo comes with decades of literary weight. A lawyer, activist and award-winning poet, his writing has long wrestled with power, freedom and Nigeria’s difficult history. His sixth collection, Why Does God Need a Gun?, turns towards religious and political violence and the uncomfortable questions surrounding faith and bloodshed.

Then comes Tares Oburumu, the younger, restless voice from the Niger Delta. A poet, essayist and playwright, he won the 2022 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. His shortlisted Flora’s Love Colony looks at history, identity and Nigeria’s complicated inheritance.

From 223 entries, only these three remain. One will take home $100,000. But perhaps the loveliest part is this: Nigerian poetry is having a moment, and all three have already given us something worth reading.