Today the winner of the Wole Soyinka’s Literature Prize” will emerge. The three authors contending for the prize are Othuke Ominibohs, Akin Bello and Toyin Abiodun. The winner stands to win $20,000 (over N3 million) prize money in addition to international recognition as an accomplished writer, among other perks.
This is the fifth edition of the competition and it is being sponsored by Globacom.
The grand finale will take place today at 5.00p.m. at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event is expected to be graced by the Nobel Laureate himself, Professor Wole Soyinka, renowned Ghanaian author, Professor Ama Ata Aidoo and other top functionaries.
The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa was established by The Lumina Foundation in 2005. It was conceived as a very prestigious prize in honour of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in literature to celebrate excellence in all its cerebral grace, its liberating qualities, the honour and recognition it brings to a myriad of people, of diverse cultures and languages. This prize honours people who have used their talents well enough to affect others positively. It honours Africa’s great writers and causes their works to be appreciated. It celebrates excellent writing, promotes scholarship and makes books available and affordable by subsidizing the publication of books in the top list of the judges.
Wole Soyinka will be 80 this year and there will be book presentation in Accra, Ghana on July 8, 2014 to commemorate this occasion.
