Sevhage Literary Prizes 2024 shortlists announced

The Sevhage Literary Prizes 2024 shortlists in fiction, nonfiction, and literary criticism were announced on Saturday, December 28, 2024.

The Sevhage Literary and Development Initiative, aimed at promoting literature, reading, and other development initiatives, was founded by Nigeria-born UK-based S. Su’eddie Vershima Agema in 2013. Sevhage is a publisher of dozens of titles many of which have won or been nominated for numerous literary prizes. In 2015, they organised the Sevhage Literary Festival which hosted many writers in Makurdi, Nigeria. In 2023, they announced the Sevhage Literary Prizes which had the theme “Unleashing African Creativity” which were won by Arasi Kamolideen Oluwapelumi, Amanda Ilozumba, Ola W. Halim, Abasi-maenyin Esebre, and Sodiq Oyekanmi.

For 2024, the organisation called for entries for the E. E. Sule/SEVHAGE Prize for African Literary Criticism, the Eugenia Abu/SEVHAGE International Prize for Creative Non-Fiction, and the K & L Prize for Fiction. The K & L Prize for Fiction is an award for the best piece of unpublished fiction by an African resident aged 18 to 25, founded by New Zealand-based Nigerian writer Myles Ojabo won by Sisca Julius (2019), Kanyinsola Olorunnisola (2020), and Mustapha Enesi (2021). This year, it was incorporated as the Sevhage Literary Prizes fiction section while the poetry category would be in partnership with the Journal of African Youth Literature (JAY Lit).

The shortlists for these awards were made on Saturday with the organisers noting that the difference between the shortlisted entries and those that did not cut was, in many cases, marginal. Sevhage President, S Su’eddie Vershima Agema said, “The absence of certain works on this list should not be seen as a reflection of their quality but rather the result of limited slots in a highly competitive field.”

The writers on the shortlists are;

K & L Prize for Fiction

• A Funky Business Called Parenthood, Olayinka Yaqub
• Alkaline, Queen Deraa
• Book of Confrontation, Hajaarh Muhammad Bashar
• Heavy, Justin Clement
• Neneh by Uchenna Ekweremadu
• Nurturing a Child, Chinaza Agomuo
• Quicksand by Ruby Excel
• Saving Adanna, Amira Abdul-Azeez
• The Thing with Feathers, Akinsanya Adeniyi Emmanuel
• The Water Scar, Enit’ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya
• This, too, will pass, Amanda Ilozumba Otitobunkechukwu
• Unexplainable Bygones, Raphael Adebayo

Eugenia Abu/SEVHAGE International Prize for Creative Non-Fiction

• Afụnwaelotanna, Chinonso Nzeh
• Compass Rose, Abasi-maenyin Esebre
• Crossing the Road, Olaposi Halim
• Five Things Mother Did Not Prepare Me For, Sumaiyah Muhammad Salisu
• Grave Visits and Other Worries, Sanusi A. Sanusi
• I Have Come to Understand That a Daughter’s Marriage is Also as Difficult as Giving Birth to Her, Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
• Motherhood, Summaya Jaeh
• Rinsing Death, Nasiba Babale
• Riverside Resurgence, Juliet Ugbedeojo
• The Protest Lamb, Ojo Blessing
• To Ife, My Life in Songs, Chinaza James-Ibe
• We Bought an Album in June, Nana Sule

E. E. Sule/SEVHAGE Prize for African Literary Criticism

• An Appraisal of the Poetry of the Ìkòyí-ẹ̀ṣọ́ Lineage, Ademuyiwa Adewale
• A Transnational Critique of Leila Aboulela’s Short Story, The Ostrich, Gogo Iorwuese
• Cabals, Umpires and Villains in Nigeria’s 21st Century Democracy. An Analysis of Goodluck Jonathan’s My Transition Hours, Ifeoma Onwugbufor
• In Defense of Leopartitude: A Case to Update an Indigenous African Literary Theory, Bizuum Yadok
• Muddling the Waters: Matriarchal Failure and Patriarchal Intervention in Chika Unigwe’s The Middle Daughter and Aiwanisen Odafen’s Tomorrow I Become A Woman, Petrina Atom
• Place, Women and the African-European Encounters in Warsan Shire’s Our Men Do Not Belong To Us by Deborah Uzoma
• Postcolonialism in Transition: A Zero Counter-Discursive Approach to Joseph Ushie’s Yawns And Belches, Ekikereobong Usoro
• The Contemporary African Short Story as A Social Commentary: A Study of Select Stories of Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Uchenna Emelife
• The Manifestation of the Tripartite Psyche in Unoma Azuah’s Edible Bones: A Freudian Psychoanalytic Criticism, Terese Uwuave
• The Pen-Pusher and the Gun-Wielders: Portraiture of Nigerian Military in Idris Amali’s Poetry, Onyebuchi Nwosu
• Traumatic Experiences Among Northern Wives in Polygamous Marriages: A Critical Evaluation of Razinat T. Mohammed’s The Travails of a First Wife, Dooga Theophilus
• When Places Speak: Deciphering Nengak Daniel’s Postcards from Salamaville, Alexander Izang

The winners will be announced on Tuesday, December 31.

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