Iyanuoluwa Adenle won the Kofi Awoonor Poetry Prize 2024 on Saturday, February 1, 2025.
The Kofi Awoonor Literary Prize was established in honour of Ghanaian poet, writer and academic Prof Kofi Awoonor. The beloved Ghanaian was the author of many titles in poetry, prose, and nonfiction and was awarded prizes such as the Gurrey Prize (1959), the Commonwealth Poetry Award (1989), the Ghana Association of Writers Distinguished Authors Award (1991), and the ECRAG national award for poetry in 1992 and 1994, respectively. He was killed in 2013 during the attack on West Mall Gate, Kenya while attending a literary festival.
The 2024 edition which focused on poetry was judged by award-winning poet and playwright Othuke Umukoro. The finalists were revealed to be;
- Onyedikachi Chinedu
- Nas Jolaada
- Chisom Favour Eze
- CP Nwankwo
- Olalekan D. Kehinde
- Tiley Kuti
- Iyanuoluwa Adenle
- Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe
- Ayiyi Joel
- Adedoyin Kayode
From these, the winner was revealed to be Iyanuoluwa Adenle for his poem Babe by the judge who was moved by the poem’s “slippery enjambment and, by extension, its heart.”
Please support our work at Writing Africa with a one-off donation or regularly on PayPal, Ko-Fi, Patreon, or Mobile Money by clicking here.
Leave a Reply