The 2023 SEVHAGE literary competition collated several exciting entries from across several corners of Africa. With four categories to showcase the multifaceted talent of African writers, we are once again reminded of the incredible depth and breadth of our continent’s literary prowess. We are grateful to everyone who submitted entries for consideration of the various prizes.
After critical readings and reviews of the several entries submitted for the four categories of the SEVHAGE Literary Prizes, we are honoured to unveil the longlisted authors for the SEVHAGE Prizes in the following categories:

1. E. E. SULE/SEVHAGE Prize for African Literary Criticism
2. SEVHAGE Prize for Creative Non-Fiction
3. SEVHAGE Prize for Short Fiction
4. SEVHAGE-KSR Hyginus Ekwuazi Prize for Poetry

E.E. SULE/SEVHAGE Prize for African Literary Criticism

• Women and the Boko Haram Terrorists: Reading Trauma in Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Abidemi Emman Oguntunji
• Egocentrism In Contemporary Literature: A Review of Obari Gomba’s The Lilt Of The Rebel by Adelana Esther
• Disability and the Prosthetic Heritages Of African Democracy in Tiv Praise Songs by Atyev Bem Collins
• The Cartography of Human Behavior: Vernacular Theatre in Eastern Africa by ALEX NDERITU
• A Principle for the New Nigerian Poetry by Arasi Kamolideen Oluwapelumi
• Negotiating Spaces in Western Metropolitan Societies: Focus on Contemporary Nigerian Diasporic Novels by Bizuum Godwill Yadok
• Of History and Imaginative Re-Creations in Helon Habila’s Waiting for An Angel by Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
• Exploring African Identity and Cultural Resilience in Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie by Emmanuel Braimoh
• Gender as Performance, and Androgynous Space Creation in African Literature by Eugene Shichet Yakubu
• Representation of Psychoses in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time by Jeff Iwu
• African Ecocriticism, Multispecies Presence and Ben Okri’s Songs of Enchantment by John Olorunshola Kehinde
• Nigerian Comics: A Critical Overview by Ifesinachi Nwadike
• “Chinua Achebe, A Feminist Extraordinaire?: Misogyny, Masculinity, And Victimhood in Things Fall Apart“ by Kasimma
• “Till’ Death Do Us Part?” Unravelling Familial Ties in The Representations of Wives in Selected Women Authored Zambian Short Stories by Shilika Chisoko (Zambia)
• Multiple Modes of Interpretations and Contradictions in Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Sunday Michael Oyeleke
• Prejudice, Identity and Cultural Reorientation: A Reading of Emeka Aniagolu’s Anyali by Uthman Qasim

SEVHAGE Prize for Creative Nonfiction

• Grief: Its Invisible Gerund by Abasi-maenyin Esebre
• The Fervent Wishes of a ‘Wanna-Be’ Plus Size Sex Worker by Chiamaka Ejindu
• Against the Weather by Chimezie Chika
• The five stages of grief is death by Ejiro Elizabeth Edward
• A Mother Figure by Hajaarh Muhammad Bashar
• Darkness & Logistics by Haruna Solomon Binkam
• Butterflies, fireflies, & brotherhood by Hope Joseph
• Babel by Isaiah Adepoju
• Everything that burns by James-Ibe Chinaza
• Boy, What is the Taste of a Glory that Burns by Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba
• No Tongue of My Own by Mwanabibi Sylvia Sikamo
• Light Through Wet Eyes by NmaHassan Muhammad
• This is my Story by Ogonna Ochokwu
• History in a Hurry by Ojo Olumide Emmanuel
• It Tastes Like Love by Olajesutofunmi Akinyemi
• In the Furl of Prayers and Miracles by Onyeka Divine

SEVHAGE-LETICIA NYITSE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION

• The Epistle of a Maid by Abubakar Terkimbi Saidu
• Your Money Bleeds by Alex Abesadu Byanyiko
• The Girl Whose Family Drowned in Her Name by Amanda Ilozumba
• Home Is Where the Heart Rests by Chidera Solomon Anikpe
• Fly by Chukwuemeka Famous
• The Mountains That Birthed Us by Erinola Daranijo
• Let This Be the Noose That Unties Me by Enit’ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya
• Dial M For Murder by Hajara Hussaini Ashara
• Your Hair Smelled of Something Sour, Like Rancid Milk by Ifeanyichukwu Chidera Onukwube
• Beyond Joy by Ifeanyichukwu Eze
• Metaphor for the Thing Called Life by Ikechukwu Henry
• The Adventures of Tom the Terror by Mike Ekunno
• How Lagos Wrings You Dry by Prosper C. Ìféányí
• Owanyi by Nana-Hauwa Sule
• On Most Saturdays It Doesn’t Rain by Ola W. Halim
• Ministry Of Animal Affairs by Olúwasúnmisọ́lá Olúdé

SEVHAGE/KSR Hyginus Ekwuazi Prize for Poetry

• Here, I introduced Kotus to the Encyclopaedia of My Dolour by Abduljalal Musa Aliyu
• identity crises as a variant of grief by Ajise Vincent
• The Sky God’s Wrath by Akumbu Uche
• Grief by Ayiyi Joel
• Palestine In Recent Times: A Conversation At The Confessional by Chinecherem Enujioke
• Dear Son by Chinedu Gospel
• chronicles of a place where nothing wets the skin but blood by Chinemerem Prince Nwankwo
• why this poet is addicted to heartbreak songs by Damilola Omotoyinbo
• Ujana by Frank Njugi
• Foreign Gods Hold My Trachea by Frederick Goodness Amarachi
• Self-inoculation//& the Falsettos of Soft Bruise by Joshua Effiong
• Riverscape with seine by Martins Deep
• How a cancel generation casts a portion of reality—even a poem—in reverse by Mazeed Mukhtar Oyeleye
• In a Poem About Flight My iPhone-XR Autocorrects Father to Feather by Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi
• I Second Guess Religion in Place of Humanity by Nnadi Samuel
• Motion by Okoronkwo Chisom
• Departures by Olalekan Daniel Kehinde
• In The Call of Ruin by Pacella Chukwuma-Eke
• before the storm came by Saheed Sunday
• glossolalia by Sodiq Oyekanmi
• It Brought Us Here to the Brink by Yarri Kamara

Congratulations to all the longlisted entrants. Your work is a testament to the resplendent literary future of our continent. The shortlist for the various categories will be announced in November 2023.

Best regards,

The SEVHAGE Team

NOTE: One of the longlisted entries for Creative Non-Fiction, ‘Grief: Its Invisible Gerund’ by Abasi-maenyin Esebre was erroneously omitted when this was originally published due to an oversight from the team but has now been amended to reflect the situation. – The SEVHAGE Team