11 poets make longlist for $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature

By Onu Okorie

Eleven poetry collections have made the longlist for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature, selected from 223 entries submitted for this year’s competition.

The list was announced by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, chairman of the Prize’s Advisory Board, who described it as a significant milestone reflecting the quality, creativity and diversity of contemporary poetry.

The longlisted titles, in alphabetical order, are:

Adult Love — Tanure Ojaide

Bakandimiya — Saddiq Dzukogi

Black Passport — Paul Akpomuje

2000 Blacks — Ajibola Tolase

Ceremony for The Nameless — Theresa Lola

Corpus: Animistic Verses — Ayo Oyeku

Floral’s Love Colony — Tares Oburumu

The Origin of Wounds — Malik Gbolahan

The Years of Blood — Adebayo Agarau

Unbind Me Now — James Ugwu Eze

Why Does God Need a Gun — Ogaga Ifowodo

Prof Adimora-Ezeigbo said the works revisit history while questioning dominant historical narratives, and examine the forces that shape collective identity and social relations. Despite their differing emphases, she noted, the collections share a common concern with how individuals and communities endure violence, oppression and social fragmentation.

On craft, she praised the collections’ range of poetic technique, citing their lyrical intensity, symbolic depth and artistic innovation. According to her, several works lean on dense, allegorical and elegiac modes open to multiple interpretations, while others draw on folklore and oral tradition to blend past and present. She described the language across the list as fluid and evocative, built on vivid imagery and intellectual sophistication to explore social realities and give voice to individual and collective experience.

“The next stage will demand a closer reading of each work, with attention to language, form, originality and lasting literary value,” she said, also commending the judges and reaffirming the Advisory Board’s commitment to a credible process and literary excellence.

The longlist announcement opens the next phase of the competition: a shortlist of three titles is expected in August, with the winner to be announced in October.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by NLNG, awards $100,000 to the winning author. Now in its 22nd year, the prize rotates annually among four genres — prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature — with the 2026 edition dedicated to poetry.