Ikeogu Oke has won the 2017 Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company Prize for Literature.
He won for his book ‘The Heresiad’.
Oke, a poet, writer and journalist, was announced as the winner at a press conference on Monday.
To emerge the winner, Oke beat other other longlisted authors; Obari Gomba (For Every Homeland), Jumoke Verissimo (The Birth of Illusion), Ogaga Ifowodo (A Good Mourning), Ebi Yeibo (Of Waters and the Wild), Peter Akinlabi (Iconography), Humphrey Ogu (Echoes of Neglect) and Tanure Ojaide (Songs of Myself: Quartet).
Others are Seun Lari-Williams (Garri for Breakfast), Peter Akinlabi (Iconography), Hyginus Ekwuazi (One Day I’ll Dare to Raise My Middle Finger at the Stork and the Reaper), Abubakar Othman (Blood Streams in the Desert) and Jumoke Verissimo (The Birth of Illusion).
Described as operatic poetry, Oke’s book ‘The Heresiad’ is basically a poem extended over a hundred pages.
He will be presented a cash award of $100, 000 by virtue of his winning.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, the author of ‘Season of Crimson Blossoms’, won the 2016 edition of the prize.
Ibrahim beat Chika Unigwe and Elnathan John, to win the biggest literary prize in Africa.
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