Wole Soyinka Prize For African Literature Calls For Entries

The Lumina Foundation has announced the call for entry for the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa 2016. Only published poetry collection by a single author of African descent will be eligible for this prize. Submit 10 copies of each work with the author’s résumé and coloured photo (portrait) as well as the publisher’s full contact details which include emails and telephone numbers.

Only poetry collections published in 2013, 2014 and 2015 may be entered for this prize. Submission can only be made by publishers. Please visit www.theluminafoundation.org for further details on entry rules. Entries should be submitted to The Lumina Office, 19 University of Lagos Road, Yaba Lagos. P.O. Box 3165, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.

Entry closes on December 31, 2015.

The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa is the biggest bi-annual literary prize on the continent of Africa for its writers within and beyond. It is administered by The Lumina Foundation based in Lagos with an office in Accra. It comes with a cash of $20,000, the prize symbol and medal at an evening ceremony of presentation normally given by Professor Soyinka himself in Lagos or any selected city in Africa.

Previous prize winners include Sefi Atta, Nnedi Okoroafor, Kopalno Maltwa, Wale Okediran, Sifiso Mzobe and Akin Bello.
Jury for 2016-2018 include Margaret Busby, a revered literary figure who had at various times judged the Man Booker Prize, Orange Prize and Cain Prize among others. Toyin Falola, a professor of History at University of Texas, Austin and President of African Studies Association, U.S, Elleke Boehmer, a professor of World Literature in English at University of Oxford Faculty of English language, judge of Man Booker International Prize, and Olu Obafemi, a professor of English Dramatic Literature at University of Ilorin, Nigeria.