The race for the 2025 Nigeria Prize for Literature has been narrowed to three writers Oyin Olugbile, Chigozie Obioma and Nikki May.
The prize, sponsored by the Nigeria LNG Limited, received over 250 prose fiction entries this year. Eleven were longlisted in July before the shortlist was unveiled in August.
Ahead of the $100,000 award announcement on October 10, QEDng takes a look at the writers behind the celebrated novels.
Oyin Olugbile – Sanya
Olugbile is a Nigerian-born writer and cultural storyteller. Her debut novel Sanya reimagines the legacy of the Yoruba deity Sango through the eyes of a fierce female lead.
A graduate of Theatre Arts from the University of Lagos, she also holds a Master’s degree in Leadership and Development from King’s College London.
Olugbile co-authored The Road to Good Governance in Nigeria and Africa and has written screenplays exploring identity and spirituality. Her novel was praised by the judges as “fascinating” and “fast-paced.”
She was longlisted for the CANEX Prize for Publishing 2024 and has received multiple recognitions for her work in literature, education and leadership.
Chigozie Obioma – The Road to the Country
Born in Akure in 1986, Obioma is the author of The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into more than 30 languages.
His latest work The Road to the Country revisits the Nigerian Civil War through the story of a young man searching for his brother, weaving Igbo cosmology with the brutal realities of war.
The novel, described by critics as “heart-racing” and “mystical,” has drawn international acclaim. Obioma is a professor of creative writing who has taught at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the University of Georgia.
Nikki May – This Motherless Land
May is an Anglo-Nigerian writer born in Bristol and raised in Lagos. Her debut novel Wahala won the Comedy Women in Print Prize and is being adapted by the BBC.
Her second book This Motherless Land reimagines Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and moves between Somerset and Lagos, exploring race, class and belonging.
The novel was a Read with Jenna pick in the United States and was shortlisted for the 2025 Edward Stanford Prize for Fiction with a Sense of Place. A TV adaptation is in development.
The three novels beat 252 entries to make the final stage of the competition. The advisory board described them as “culturally relevant and outstanding works.”
