The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and NLNG held the 17th edition of their annual Book Party in Lagos on August 2, celebrating the 11 poets longlisted for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature (NPL), including two writers returning to the list nearly a decade after their first appearances.
The Book Party, which followed the announcement of the 2026 longlist, provided a public platform for the selected poets to present their works, read selected pieces, and engage with readers, critics, journalists, publishers, students, and other members of the literary community. It featured readings, conversations, and discussions around the works selected for the year’s poetry cycle among other cultural and literary festivities.
Poets Tanure Ojaide and Ogaga Ifowodo feature among this year’s longlist, both returning to the NPL nine years after their initial appearances at the prize in 2017. Ojaide’s new collection, *Adult Love*, reflects on childhood and youth experiences that shaped his adult values. Ifowodo, who was longlisted and then shortlisted for the prize in 2017 and returned again in 2022, is on the list for a third time with *Why Does God Need a Gun?*, a collection addressing the abduction of schoolgirls and other acts of violence.
The full 2026 poetry longlist also includes Paul Akpomuje’s *Black Passport*, which explores African migration and identity in Canada; Theresa Lola’s *Ceremonies for the Nameless*, on naming and belonging; and Adedayo Agarau’s *The Years of Blood*, which draws on Yoruba cosmology to address ritual killings and child abductions in Ibadan.
Other longlisted works are Rasaq Malik Gbolahan’s *The Origin of Wounds*, on the legacy of historical wars; Tares Oburumu’s *Flora’s Love Colony*, on imperial exploitation of Nigeria’s resources; and Ajibola Tolase’s *2000 Blacks*, which examines economically and politically motivated migration from Africa. Saddiq Dzukogi, longlisted for a second time since 2022, is on the list with *Bakandamiya: An Elegy*, an epic poem reimagining the legend of Bayajidda. James Ngwu Eze, also returning since 2022, is longlisted for *Unbind Me Now*. Ayo Oyeku, appearing on the NPL longlist for a third consecutive year across different categories, submitted a poetry collection titled *Corpus* this year.
The longlisted works were selected by the panel of judges appointed for the 2026 edition of the Prize from 223 entries received, following the call for entries announced in February and the close of submissions for the poetry cycle. The longlist marks a key stage in the adjudication process, ahead of the shortlist and the possible announcement of the winner later in the year.
Speaking at the event, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, said the Book Party emphasised the importance of sustaining platforms that move literature beyond the page and into public consciousness.
She noted that The Nigeria Prize for Literature was established to recognise exceptional writing, and to strengthen Nigeria’s culture of reading, critical engagement and creative expression. This year’s focus on poetry, she added, celebrates a genre capable of distilling complex truths into powerful language, connecting the personal with the universal and giving voice to experiences that might otherwise remain unheard.
“The 2026 Poetry cycle attracted 223 entries, each offering a distinct rhythm, perspective and artistic expression. Together, these submissions attest to the vitality of Nigerian poetry and to the confidence Nigerian writers continue to place in the NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature,” she said.
Also speaking, CORA Secretary-General, Toyin Akinosho, said the Book Party was designed to create exactly this kind of public literary encounter, where books are not merely announced, but read, discussed, challenged, and appreciated. He stated that the Book Party remains an intervention in Nigeria’s literary space because it gives visibility to authors and encourages direct engagement between writers and readers.
He described the Book Party as a distinctive platform that brings authors into direct conversation with the reading public ahead of the final announcement of the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature.
Akinosho acknowledged NLNG’s sustained investment in the country’s literary and reading culture.
“We are here because a profitable Nigerian gas company decided that a way to spend some share of its profit is to enable the Nigerian reading space. I’d like to thank NLNG for continuing to support this yearly afternoon of book conversation and the celebration of this country’s finest authors.”
Akinosho emphasised the distinctive place of the CORA–NPL Book Party in the literary prize process. He said: “I don’t know of any literary prize process in which the final award is prefaced by a celebratory event of this nature, at which the authors face a community of readers in a room and talk about why and how they wrote what they are offering.”
He confirmed that NLNG is nearing completion of a 35 percent expansion of its production facility, which the company has said will increase domestic supply of cooking gas. Akinosho also congratulated incoming NLNG Chief Executive Leye Falade, the first substantive holder of the role to have previously worked at the company. Falade previously served as General Manager of Production at NLNG, Shell’s country chair in Namibia, and managing director of Brunei LNG.
Akinosho said this year’s Book Party, the 17th since the series began at the Goethe-Institut in Lagos in 2010, was held for a second consecutive year outside the National Theatre, following last year’s event at the Lagos Continental Hotel on August 3, 2025. He said organisers intend to hold the event at the National Theatre in 2027, describing the venue as needing greater patronage.
All 11 longlisted authors have been invited to the Book Trek segment of the 27th Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF), regardless of the eventual NPL winner. LABAF will run from November 16 to 22, 2026, at Freedom Park on Lagos Island, under the theme “The Workover Starts Now,” which centres on the subject of repair. The festival’s main selection of books will be unveiled by August 10, 2026.
Now in its 22nd year, The Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by NLNG, rotates annually among four genres: Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Children’s Literature. The 2026 edition is dedicated to Poetry, with the winner expected to be announced in October. The CORA Book Party forms part of the activities leading to the final announcement, providing a public platform for engagement with the longlisted works and their authors.