By Nehru Odeh
Romeo Oriogun has won the 2022 NNLG Nigeria Prize for Literature for his collection of poems, Nomad. Oriogun was declared winner at a ceremony held at Eko Hotels and Suites Lagos on Friday 14 October. The literary prize, the most prestigious in Africa is worth $100,000.
Oriogun’s collection of poems won the highly coveted prize, beating Su’eddie Vershima Agema’s Memory and the Call of Water and Saddiq Dzukogi’s Your Crib, My Quibla
Announcing the winner, Professor. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, the Chair of the Advisory board said Nomad has a fresh language and a nostalgic engagement with the themes of exile and displacement.
President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who gave the keynote address presented the award to Oriogun’s representative on his behalf.
The $100,000 worth Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly amongst four literary categories: prose fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature.
Oriogun is the author of Sacrament of Bodies and three chap books. He won the 2017 Brunei University African Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and the Future Awards African Prize for Literature.