Chika Unigwe Wins Nigeria Prize for Literature

Chika Unigwe, the Nigerian Internationally acclaimed writer has been awarded the Nigeria Prize for Literature for her novel, On Black Sister’s Street. The prize, worth $100, 000 was awarded by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas at OceanView on Victoria Island Lagos. Black Sister’s Street, was adjudged the best of three novels that were earlier shortlisted. The other two novels are: Only a Canvas by Olusola Olugbesan and Onaedo; The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Ngozi Achebe.

Professor Ayo Banjo, the Chairman of the panel of Judges who announced the award, said they consider Unigwe’s novel a work of outstanding merit. He also said poor quality of production is still a fundamental problem affecting Nigerian literature.

“Some of the entries would have stood a better chance of winning this prize but were marred by problems attendant upon poor publishing. Some of the books submitted for this year’s prize failed to to rise to the final stage because of issues like poor editing, proofreading and other publishing errors. Nigerian publishers ought to realize that this prize is an international one,” he said. Big congratulations to her.