Awesome Nigerians.....in Literature
FACT: Did you know that Nigerian authors have won every major literary prize?
Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He is among a long list of
Nigerian born and educated writers who have received global awards in literature.
The list includes.....
Chinua Achebe, whose first novel "Things Fall Apart" (1958) is considered a modern classic and has been translated into 40 languages. Achebe won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007. Ben Okri, who won the Man Booker Prize in 1991 for "The Famished Road."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her third
novel, Americanah, was selected by the New York Times as one of The 10 Best Books of 2013.
Dele Olojede was the first African-born winner of the Pulitzer Prize when he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2005.
Nigerian writers Helon Habila, Segun Afolabi and E.C. Osondu also won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2001, 2005 and 2009 respectively.
Other outstanding Nigerian authors include.....
Buchi Emecheta whose themes of child slavery, motherhood, female independence and freedom through education have won her considerable critical acclaim and honours, including an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005.
Chibundu Onuzo started writing her first book aged 17, got an agent at 18, became the
youngest female to sign to publishing giant Faber & Faber at 19, and released her first book, The Spider King’s Daughter at 21. Her work was shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize in the same year.