The NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 longlist was announced in Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature, worth US$100,000, has celebrated Nigerian authors in the four genres of fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature since 2004. Sponsored annually by oil firm NLNG, some of the winners have been Familoni Oluranti Olubunmi, Obari Gomba, Romeo Oriogun, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia, Jude Idada, Soji Cole, Ikeogu Oke, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Sam Ukala, Tade Ipadeola, and Chika Unigwe.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 has a fiction focus, with Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo chairing the Advisory Board, and is chaired by Professor Saeedat Bolajoko Aliyu of Kwara State University. He is joined by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Professor Mbanefo Ogene and Channels Television’s Book Club host Olakunle Kasumu. University of the Witwatersrand’s Dr. Grace Musila serves as the International Consultant. They announced the longlist, “a celebration of powerful stories, unforgettable characters, and the literary brilliance that defines our heritage,” on Wednesday. The eleven in the running, including two previous winners, are;
- An Unusual Grief, Yewande Omotoso
- Fine dreams, Linda N. Masi
- Leave My Bones in Saskatoon, Michael Afenfia
- New York, My Village, Uwem Akpan
- Petrichor: The Scent of a New Beginning, Ayo Oyeku
- Sanya, Oyin Olugbile
- The Middle Daughter, Chika Unigwe
- The Road to the Country, Chigozie Obioma
- This Motherless Land, Nikki May
- When We Were Fireflies, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
- Water baby, Chioma Okereke
The shortlist and winner will be announced later in the year.
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