Princess Arinola Adegbite and Nneoma Kenure are on the shortlist for the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2023 announced on Friday, September 22, 2023.
Wasafiri, founded in 1984, is a UK-based magazine for international contemporary writing renowned for publishing some of the world’s most distinguished writers. The magazine’s Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize was launched to support new writers, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background in 2009. It is handed out in the categories of fiction, poetry, and life writing. Some of the previous winners of the prize have been Sharma Taylor, Deirdre Shanahan, Ndinda Kioko, and Niamh MacCabe.
The jury for 2023 is chaired by Diana Evans alongside Leila Aboulela (Fiction), Aanchal Malhotra (Life Writing), and Caleb Femi (Poetry). The team revealed the shortlists with the following writers of African descent making the cut;
Poetry
- Princess Arinola Adegbite, Ariel (Little Mami Wata)
Life Writing
- Nneoma Kenure, Dad Died
The winners will be announced on October 11, and will receive prizes of £1,000 each and publication in Wasafiri magazine, while the remaining shortlistees will have their work published on Wasafiri.org.
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