LONGLIST FOR SEVHAGE LITERARY PRIZES, 2023

by | Nov 2, 2023 | Gist Corner

The longlist for 2023 Sevhage Literary Prizes has been announced and it is a cast with eclectic wonders. The organizers describe it as “..a testament to the resplendent literary future of our continent.” The longlist across all categories include:

  1. E.E. SULE/SEVHAGE Prize for African Literary Criticism
  • Women and the Boko Haram Terrorists: Reading Trauma in Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Abidemi Emman Oguntunji
  • Egocentrism In Contemporary Literature: A Review of Obari Gomba’s The Lilt Of The Rebel by Adelana Esther
  • Disability and the Prosthetic Heritages Of African Democracy in Tiv Praise Songs by Atyev Bem Collins
  • The Cartography of Human Behavior: Vernacular Theatre in Eastern Africa by ALEX NDERITU
  • A Principle for the New Nigerian Poetry by Arasi Kamolideen Oluwapelumi
  • Negotiating Spaces in Western Metropolitan Societies: Focus on Contemporary Nigerian Diasporic Novels by Bizuum Godwill Yadok
  • Of History and Imaginative Re-Creations in Helon Habila’s Waiting for An Angel by Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
  • Exploring African Identity and Cultural Resilience in Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie by Emmanuel Braimoh
  • Gender as Performance, and Androgynous Space Creation in African Literature by Eugene Shichet Yakubu
  • Representation of Psychoses in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time by Jeff Iwu
  • African Ecocriticism, Multispecies Presence and Ben Okri’s Songs of Enchantment by John Olorunshola Kehinde
  • Nigerian Comics: A Critical Overview by Ifesinachi Nwadike
  • “Chinua Achebe, A Feminist Extraordinaire?: Misogyny, Masculinity, And Victimhood in Things Fall Apart” by Kasimma
  • “Till’ Death Do Us Part?” Unravelling Familial Ties in The Representations of Wives in Selected Women Authored Zambian Short Stories by Shilika Chisoko (Zambia)
  • Multiple Modes of Interpretations and Contradictions in Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Sunday Michael Oyeleke
  • Prejudice, Identity and Cultural Reorientation: A Reading of Emeka Aniagolu’s Anyali by Uthman Qasim

SEVHAGE Prize for Creative Nonfiction

  • The Fervent Wishes of a ‘Wanna-Be’ Plus Size Sex Worker by Chiamaka Ejindu
  • Against the Weather by Chimezie Chika
  • The five stages of grief is death by Ejiro Elizabeth Edward
  • A Mother Figure by Hajaarh Muhammad Bashar
  • Darkness & Logistics by Haruna Solomon Binkam
  • Butterflies, fireflies, & brotherhood by Hope Joseph
  • Babel by Isaiah Adepoju
  • Everything that burns by James-Ibe Chinaza
  • Boy, What is the Taste of a Glory that Burns by Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba
  • No Tongue of My Own by Mwanabibi Sylvia Sikamo
  • Light Through Wet Eyes by NmaHassan Muhammad
  • This is my Story by Ogonna Ochokwu
  • History in a Hurry by Ojo Olumide Emmanuel
  • It Tastes Like Love by Olajesutofunmi Akinyemi
  • In the Furl of Prayers and Miracles by Onyeka Divine

SEVHAGE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION

  • The Epistle of a Maid by Abubakar Terkimbi Saidu
  • Your Money Bleeds by Alex Abesadu Byanyiko
  • The Girl Whose Family Drowned in Her Name by Amanda Ilozumba
  • Home Is Where the Heart Rests by Chidera Solomon Anikpe
  • Fly by Chukwuemeka Famous
  • The Mountains That Birthed Us by Erinola Daranijo
  • Let This Be the Noose That Unties Me by Enit’ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya
  • Dial M For Murder by Hajara Hussaini Ashara
  • Your Hair Smelled of Something Sour, Like Rancid Milk by Ifeanyichukwu Chidera Onukwube
  • Beyond Joy by Ifeanyichukwu Eze
  • Metaphor for the Thing Called Life by Ikechukwu Henry
  • The Adventures of Tom the Terror by Mike Ekunno
  • How Lagos Wrings You Dry by Prosper C. Ìféányí
  • Owanyi by Nana-Hauwa Sule
  • On Most Saturdays It Doesn’t Rain by Ola W. Halim
  • Ministry Of Animal Affairs by Olúwasúnmisọ́lá Olúdé

SEVHAGE/KSR Hyginus Ekwuazi Prize for Poetry

  • Here, I introduced Kotus to the Encyclopaedia of My Dolour by Abduljalal Musa Aliyu
  • identity crises as a variant of grief by Ajise Vincent
  • The Sky God’s Wrath by Akumbu Uche
  • Grief by Ayiyi Joel
  • Palestine In Recent Times: A Conversation At The Confessional by Chinecherem Enujioke
  • Dear Son by Chinedu Gospel
  • chronicles of a place where nothing wets the skin but blood by Chinemerem Prince Nwankwo
  • why this poet is addicted to heartbreak songs by Damilola Omotoyinbo
  • Ujana by Frank Njugi
  • Foreign Gods Hold My Trachea by Frederick Goodness Amarachi
  • Self-inoculation//& the Falsettos of Soft Bruise by Joshua Effiong
  • Riverscape with seine by Martins Deep
  • How a cancel generation casts a portion of reality—even a poem—in reverse by Mazeed Mukhtar Oyeleye
  • In a Poem About Flight My iPhone-XR Autocorrects Father to Feather by Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi
  • I Second Guess Religion in Place of Humanity by Nnadi Samuel
  • Motion by Okoronkwo Chisom
  • Departures by Olalekan Daniel Kehinde
  • In The Call of Ruin by Pacella Chukwuma-Eke
  • before the storm came by Saheed Sunday
  • glossolalia by Sodiq Oyekanmi
  • It Brought Us Here to the Brink by Yarri Kamara

Such a cocktail of brilliance! The shortlist is scheduled to be announced in November.

Sevhage Publishing is a leading Nigerian Publishing House with a vision to “take literature in Nigeria and Africa to far higher heights and make it as enviable and attractive a venture as any other sector in the continent.”

Congratulations to our very own Kasimma, Eugene Yakubu, Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba, and everyone on the longlist.