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Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa

African literary prize

Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa
Summary

African literary prize

FieldValue
nameWole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa
imageWoleSoyinka2015.jpg
captionWole Soyinka
awarded_forPan-African writing prize for books of any type or genre
hostThe Lumina Foundation
location
presenter
sponsorThe Lumina Foundation
reward$20,000
date
countryNigeria
year2006
year22018
website

Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa was a pan-African writing prize awarded biennially to the best literary work produced by an African. The $20,000 prize was established in 2005 and administered by the Lumina Foundation in honour of Africa's first Nobel Laureate in Literature, Wole Soyinka.

While no official statement has been made on the state of the prize, it has not been awarded since 2018. In June 2025, Nigerian businessman Olabode Opeseitan wrote an opinion piece in The Nation urging the governors of Lagos and Ogun states—where Soyinka resides and was born—to support funding for the prize.

Sefi Atta, 2006 winner

On the establishment of the prize Soyinka commented: "This is a pan African prize. We consider it to be our own Nobel prize in Africa. It unifies Africans, celebrates Africa’s great minds, brings home Africa’s best intellectuals as judges, entertainers and great communicators and leaders in their own rights. It’s a book prize I am happy and proud to be part of because of the tribute it pays to profound knowledge generation and dissemination and to Africa’s diverse cultures and personalities."

The winner was chosen by an international jury of African literary figures and the prize was presented by Soyinka at an award dinner in Lagos. Entries had to be written in English or French.

Past sponsors included the Nigerian telco Glo which supported the prize for three years.

Winners

  • 2006: Sefi Atta, Everything Good Will Come. The inaugural award took place on 5 August 2006 at the Muson Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, where the guest speaker was former Ghana President John Agyekum Kufuor.
  • 2008: Nnedi Okorafor, Zahrah the Windseeker
  • 2010: (shared prize)
    • Kopano Matlwa, Coconut
    • Wale Okediran, Tenants of the House
  • [[File:Kopano Matlwa Mabaso at Spotlight Health Aspen Ideas Festival 2015.JPG|thumb|Kopano Matlwa, 2010 winner]]2012: Sifiso Mzobe, Young Blood
  • 2014: Akin Bello, The Egbon of Lagos (play)
  • 2018: (shared prize)
    • Harriet Anena, A Nation in Labour
    • Tanure Ojaide, Songs of Myself

Notes

References

  1. [http://www.theluminafoundation.org/projects/wole-soyinka-prize-for-literature-in-africa Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa], official website.
  2. [https://www.luminafoundationsoyinkaprize.com/ "The Lumina Foundation's Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa"], LuminaFoundationSoyinkaPrize.com.
  3. Reporter, Our. (2025-06-13). "Sanwo-Olu, Abiodun: Don’t let the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature die".
  4. "Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa".
  5. [http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/June-22nd/jury-for-wole-soyinka-prize-announced.php "Jury for Wole Soyinka prize announced"], Joy Online, 22 June 2015.
  6. [http://www.theluminafoundation.org/the-prize/prize-rules Wole Soyinka Prize Rules], The Lumina Foundation.
  7. --> Initially any literary genre was eligible to be considered, but starting in 2014, a single genre was selected for each edition: drama in 2014, poetry in 2016, and prose in 2018.[http://www.theluminafoundation.org/the-prize/prize-rules 2014 Wole Soyinka Entry Prize Rules.]
  8. [https://archive.today/20120904060823/http://www.luminafoundationsoyinkaprize.com/prize-winners.html Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa], previous winners.The Lumina Foundation.
  9. [http://www.panafricanwritersassociation.org/pawa-news-2/9-release-africa-s-literary-prize "Africa's Literary Prize"] {{Webarchive. link. (4 March 2016 , [[Pan African Writers' Association]] (PAWA), 29 October 2012.)
  10. Uhakheme, Ozolua. (9 September 2012). "South African wins Soyinka Literary Prize". The Nation.
  11. Akeem Lasisi. (11 September 2012). "Mzobe wins $20,000 Soyinka Prize amidst eulogies". Punch.
  12. SOLOMON NDA-ISAIAH. (19 September 2012). "Sifizo Mzobe Wins Wole Soyinka’s Prize for Literature In Africa". Leadership.
  13. Henry Akubuiro. (15 September 2012). "Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature: Another South African writer shines". Sun News.
  14. (6 July 2014). "Akin Bello wins Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa". WorldStage.
  15. Staff writer. (1 November 2014). "Akin Bello: Soyinka Prize for Literature hasn’t changed my life". Sun News.
  16. Musinguzi, Bamuturaki. (December 28, 2018). "Anena's poetry wins Wole Soyinka Prize".
  17. Jayne Augoye. (December 10, 2018). "Nigerian professor, Ugandan win Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

2005-establishments-in-nigeria african-literary-awards awards-established-in-2005 biennial-events english-language-literary-awards french-language-literary-awards nigerian-literary-awards
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