By Editor
Author and Journalist, Olayinka Oyegbile’s play, The Dirty Leap has made the 2022 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Literary Prizes shortlist.
In a press statement announcing the shortlist, Secretary of the Association, Maik Ortserga said the winners of the various prizes would be announced at the awards’ dinner of the convention on the 29th of October, 2022.
“The 41st International Convention of the Association has been fixed to hold from October 26 to 29 at the Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre, Mamman Vatsa Writers Village, Mpape, Abuja,” Ortserga said.
Oyegbile who was former Deputy Editor, The Nation on Sunday said the nomination has validated his labour and love for writing and would spur him into delving more into creative writing.
“I am excited about the shortlist, it has gone a way to validate my labour of love for writing and journalism,” Oyegbile said in a telephone conversation.
The Dirty Leap according to him was written when he was an undergraduate with no training as a playwright but was only recently published.
Oyegbile: “I started writing many years ago. In those days when radio plays used to be popular, I wrote so many plays for Radio Plateau and NTA Jos. However, because of my passion for journalism, I veered away from creative writing, I feel I should come back to writing plays and stories, I am working on a novel, I just finished one I abandoned years ago.
“This shortlist will bring me back to my writing of enduring works than journalism.”
The Shortlist
ANA PROSE PRIZE
1. Deportee – Ikenna Okeh
2. If They Tell the Story – Ndidi Chiazor Enenmor
3. Glasshouse – Sumaila Isah Umaisha
ANA POETRY PRIZE
1. I know a thing or Two about Madness – Stanley Ejiogu
2. The Lilt of the Rebel – Obari Gomba
3. Memory and the call of Waters – S.Sueddie Vershima Agema
4. Chant of the Angry – Kabura Zakama
5. Dance of A Savage – Charles Akinsete
ANA DRAMA PRIZE
1. The Dirty Leap – Olayinka Oyegbile
2. Omalinze (an Igbo Antigone) – Ikechukwu Asika
3. Clipping the Wings – Georgie Iortema.
ANA PRIZE FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
1. The School Chap – Andrew Bula
2. Bayo and Friends – Modupe Oyetade
3. The Invincible Will – Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku
4. Queen Moremi – Ayo Oyeku
ANA/ ARBUBAKAR GIMBA PRIZE
1. Nightmare in Sicilly – Nnneoma Michelle Egeonu
2. Suitors are Scarce in Lagos – Lola Akande
3. Beautiful Thief and other Stories – Alex Abesadu Byanyiko
4. A Maze of Fading Touches – S. Sueddie Vershima Agema.
