Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is the Proud Recipient of the Inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is the Proud Recipient of the Inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature 

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu, a Nigerian writer, poet and queer liberation advocate has been named the winner of the inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature with his manuscript, ”And then He sang a Lullaby.” The award comes with a cash prize of £1,000. 

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu was announced in a virtual event as the winner by the Jury’s Chair Sarah Inyal Lawal, who described the manuscript as “breathtaking.” Other members of the panel included the Canada-based Nigerian publisher, Bibi Ukonu, Dr Pinkie Megkwe (Botswana), Barbara Adair (South Africa), Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph (Nigeria), Arun Jay (India) and Miko Yamanouchi (Japan). 

The award’s longlist was first announced on June 16 before the shortlist, including Ani Kayode and four other authors, was disclosed on July 1. 

The judges also praised the works of the other authors including Nigerian author Okwudiri Job for ”The Masses on Ashes”, South African author Stephen Embleton’s ”Bones and Runes”, Ghanaian author Solomon Kobina Aremu’s ”The Rage of the Lambs”, and Zimbabwean author, Ntando Gerald for ”A Reign of Terror”. 

Ani Kayode’s works mostly centre around queer identity, resistance and liberation. He is the Founder, Queer Union for Economic and Social Transformation (QUEST9JA), a radical movement towards queer liberation in Nigeria, and the host of Rainbow Marxism, a YouTube channel focused on queer liberation in Africa. 

Ani has been featured in The Enkare Review, The Rustin Times, Gertrude, Bakwa, and Plenitude Magazine, amongst others. The writer has been previously shortlisted for several prizes including the Erbacce poetry prize, the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, and the Toyin Falola Prize. He was also a finalist for the 2020 Prize for Difference and Diversity and received the SOGIESC Rights Activist of the year 2019 award,  presented by the Initiative for Equal Rights(TIERs). 

The James Currey Prize was founded in 2020 by Nigerian filmmaker, writer and publisher, Onyeka Nwelue, who is currently an Academic Visitor at African Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Onyeka Nwelue stated the objective of the award and the continued legacy of James Currey, on which the prize was established. 

“The pivot for the James Currey Prize for African Literature, that we instituted in 2020, for the first unpublished full-length work of fiction, intends to perpetuate the value of the African Writers Series and other such initiatives in contemporary African literature exposure, and distribution. The task at hand is one that we hope to realize through our UK and US-based, Abibiman Publishing. There are wider audiences to serve, more African voices and voices concerned with Africa to hear, and more unpublished materials to hereafter spread, especially for, and within, the African continent.” 

Congratulations are in order for Ani Kayode Somtochukwu who is now recognized as the first recipient of the James Currey Prize for Literature. 

Connect with Ani on Twitter @Kayode_ani and on LinkedIn.