The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited will hold this year’s Book Party at Terra Kulture Arena on Victoria Island.
The party date is August 25, 2018 and time is from 2:00 pm to 6:00pm.
The Book Party is designed to celebrate the 11 finalists (long list) of the yearly Nigeria Prize for Literature endowed and promoted by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG.
According to the organisers, the objectives are to help bring the works and profiles of the finalists to larger public attention before the announcement of the final three finalists.
“The Book Party, as manifested in the past editions, is to ensure that we bring the short-listed writers and books face-to-face with the literary audiences so that we could create conversations around the work and the author.
Since the first edition, the Book Party has become a platform through which the shortlisted writers are engaged on their work by the public,” stated the CORA directorate, which has been a critical partner in the projection of the shortlisted works to the attention of the public.”
CORA’s mission is “to create enabling environment for the flourishing of the contemporary arts of Nigeria and the continent, while its vision is “to make art and culture the prime destination for investment in Nigeria and Africa by 2018.”
The party’s special guests are authors of the 11 books loglisted.
They include, Chidubem Iweka (August Inmates), Denja Abdullahi (Death and The King’s Grey Hair), Soji Cole (Embers), Obari Gomba (Guerrilla Post) and Peter E. Omoko (Majestic Revolt).
Others are, Dul Johnson (Melancholia), Diran Ademiju-Bepo (No More the Taming Hawks), Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan (Once Upon an Elephant), Jude Idada (Sankara), Akanji Nasiru (The Rally) and Dickson Ekhaguere (Unstable).
The event is to feature readings and discussions around the 11 books longlisted for the N35.7 million Nigerian Prize for Literature, which is now in its 14th year. The party is the ninth since 2009.
“The party is used to celebrate the authors and their works for emerging as some of the very best in the country”, says Jahman Anikulapo, CORA’s Programme Chair.
“If you make it to the last 11 out of 89 highly competitive entries, the public needs to hear your voice.”
The former editor of The Guardian On Sunday says that the authors will be brought face-to-face with the core of Lagos literary community as well as members of the larger public who show up at the party.
A shortlist of three is expected in September and the Advisory Board will announce a possible winner in October.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature has, since 2004, rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara (co-winner, 2004, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-winner, 2004, poetry) for The Dreamer, His Vision; Ahmed Yerima (2005, drama) for his play, Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008, prose) for her book Yellow Yellow; Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sisters Street; Tade Ipadeola (2013, poetry) with his collection of poems, The Sahara Testaments, Professor Sam Ukala (2014, drama) with his play, Iredi War; Seasons of Crimson Blossom, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (2016, prose) and The Heresiad, Ikeogu Oke (2017, poetry).