Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
He has been described as Nigeria’s literary man of the year since he won the 2016 Nigerian Prize for Literature for his debut novel ‘Season of Crimson Blossoms’, published in 2015. Sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), the prize is worth $100, 000 and one of the richest in the world. Recently, Ibrahim (who is also a journalist) made the 2016 shortlist for Morland Writing Scholarship, a United Kingdom charity which makes grants in areas reflecting its founder’s interests, Miles Morland.
Ibrahim’s collection of short stories ‘The Whispering Trees’ was published in 2012 to critical acclaim. It was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature and shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing.
Chika Unigwe
This author of four novels was in the final shortlist of the 2016 Nigerian Prize for Literature for her novel ‘Night Dancer’. In 2012, her novel ‘On Black Sisters’ Street’, had won the same prize. This year, Unigwe was appointed as Bonderman Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Unigwe won the 2003 BBC Short Story Competition and a Commonwealth Short Story Competition award. In 2004, she was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. In the same year, her short story made the top 10 of the Million Writers Award for best online fiction.
Elnathan John
John was a finalist for this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature for his debut novel ‘Born on a Tuesday’. He is presently in the longlist of 9 gunning for the Etisalat Prize for Literature. Also, he has been shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses long list of 16 for the same book. The prize is aimed at giving more attention to small presses publishing writers who are challenging what is possible in literature whilst still taking pains in sentence making. He was twice shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing, for his short stories, ‘Bayan Layi’ (which is the first chapter of his novel) and ‘Flying’, respectively.
Othuke Ominiabohs
His 2015 novel ‘Odufa, A Lover’s Tale’ made the shortlist for 2016 ANA Prize for Prose Fiction. The judges said the strength of the work is in its language aesthetics and not in thematic relevance to contemporary socio-political discourse tropes. Months ago, Ominiabohs’ second novel, a crime thriller titled ‘A Conspiracy of Ravens’ was released. It’s a story about the oil rich Niger Delta, militancy and terrorism fuelled by a deadly conspiracy to milk Nigeria dry by a few. Although a work of fiction, the novel is food for thought to anyone familiar with the region.
Femi Osofisan
He is a playwright, director, actor, critic, poet, novelist, editor and newspaper columnist. This year, Osofisan was named winner of the Thalia Prize 2016, announced by the Executive Committee of the International Association of Theatre Critics. This makes him the first African to win the prize, meant to highlight the work of those who have helped critics around the globe to understand new ways of seeing and appreciating the performing arts worldwide. Some of his works include ‘Once Upon Four Robbers’, ‘Minted Coins’ and many more.
Nnedi Okorafor
This year, Okorafor became the first Nigerian to win the Hugo Award for her novella ‘Binti’. The awards are given annually to highlight the best science fiction works of the previous year. They are voted for by members of the World Science Fiction convention.
Okorafor’s first novel, ‘Who Fears Death’, won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, was a 2011 Tiptree Honour Book and nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award. Her book for young adults, ‘Zahrah the Windseeker’, won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.
Toni Kan
Kan’s novel ‘The Carnivorous City’ was released in October this year. He is an award-winning writer with over 6 published books (including the collection of short stories ‘Nights of a Creaking Bed’), publisher of sabinews.com, an online magazine and co-founder of Radi8, an ideas and PR/Communications company and is currently Deputy General Manager at ntel, Nigeria’s first 4G/LTE Advanced network.
Roye Okupe
He is a writer and creator of E.X.O., a superhero story about redemption, set in futuristic 2025 Nigeria. The 135-page graphic novel was released August 2015 and has since been featured on CNN, BBC, Forbes, and many other platforms.
“Wale Williams and his setting of ‘Lagoon City’ is to Lagos what Gotham City is to New York,” Forbes has said about Okupe’s book, which features Wale Williams as its central character and super hero. CNN, on the other hand describe the graphic novel as a “fast-paced, afro-futuristic graphic novel.”
