Quramo Publishing Limited (Organisers of the Quramo Festival of Words, QFest) has announced the longlist for the annual Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP). The list of 10 manuscripts was selected from a total of 351 entries received on the portal for submissions for the prize, which closed Monday 3 May 2021.
The entries in no particular order, are Memories by Bosede Comfort Oluwayomi; Living In The Ghetto by Obinna Tony-Francis Ochem; Agent Richard by Lawal Ayuba Adewale; Apollo And The Golden Sea by Chukwebuka Okoli; Dark Spots Of Light by Ifeanyi Ekpunobi; Fate Of The Forlorn by Cynthia Nnadi; Looking Glass Bullet by Akinnimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun; Under The Aluminum Sky by Cynthia Chukwuma; When The Sun Meets The Sky by Joy Eju-Ojo Onu; and In My Backwater Town by Ishola Oyinkansola Hubaidat.
Jude Idada, Lechi Eke, Mrs Gbemi Shashore and Abubakar Adam IbrahimThe list was presented by the Head of the Panel of Judges for this year’s prize, Jude Idada, who is an award-winning author, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker. The other judges are Lechi Eke, writer, editor, and convener of the Reading Café at the University of Lagos; and multiple-award-winning author, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.
Created in 2017 as a platform for emerging writers to showcase their manuscripts to the global literary community, the Quramo Writers Prize (QWP) celebrates unpublished writers who are working every day to hone their craft and record our continent’s original stories. The prize also aims to encourage and stimulate a new community of talented writers, providing an opportunity for otherwise unexposed talent to achieve publishing recognition and encouragement.
The prize has brought forth amazing writers from across the continent, including Samuel Monye, the inaugural winner whose debut book, Give Us Each Day, made the initial shortlist of the 2021 NLNG Nigeria Literature Prize.
A shortlist of five is expected later in September while the winner of the Quramo Writers’ Prize will be unveiled at the grand finale of the Quramo Festival of Words (QFest) on Sunday, 3 October 2021.
The Quramo Writer’s Prize is awarded to a manuscript written in English, by an African writer, whether they reside in Africa or elsewhere. The winner will receive a cash award of 1million Naira, and a development publishing deal for their manuscript.
