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n October 2023, the richest literary prize in Africa, the Nigerian Prize for Literature, was awarded to a Nigerian university lecturer and playwright, Obari Gomba for his short play titled, Grit. Gomba, who had been previously shortlisted for the prize in the poetry category, was selected over two other shortlisted plays. The Nigeria Prize for Literature is worth a whopping $100,000.
Understanding the Nigeria Prize for Literature
Until 2004, the reward system for creative writing in Nigeria was poorly conducted and rewarded in paltry sums. But everything changed when the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company registered a charity for the purpose of rewarding outstanding creative writing projects with an impressive assessment team. So far, there have been 12 winning published creative writing works across all genres. The prize was instituted to encourage creativity to support dreams for another Nobel Prize-winning work from Nigeria since Wole Soyinka.
While literary prizes in Africa are poorly funded, there hasn’t been a dearth of creativity in the industry. The Caine Prize, which has now been styled as the AKO Caine Prize, served its purpose of raising competition among African writers, but writing for Nigeria suffered. And the publicity for literary projects that had been published suffered some more. But with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company’s endowed prize, long-listed and shortlisted published works get much-deserving visibility.
Every year, the prize rotates among four genres: prose, poetry, drama, and children’s literature. Past winners include Gabriel Okara, Kaine Agary, Chika Unigwe, Jude Idada, Romeo Oriogun, and recently, Obari Gomba.
Quite often, the writers who compete are rarely known but for the prize. However, this year’s winner has been a star in the literary circle of Nigeria, combining writing with teaching creative writing and literature to undergraduate students at the University of Port Harcourt. We reached out to him to learn more about this inspiring figure. Enjoy!
Here are 10 fun facts about Obari Gomba, winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2023…
- Obari Gomba was born in Eleme, Rivers State, Nigeria in 1977 in the house of a traditional birth attendant. When asked if there was a hospital in the town of Eleme when he was born, Gomba said he wasn’t sure.
- Gomba had his primary education at State School, Alesa, in Eleme. He proceeded to Ascension High School in Ogale, another part of Eleme, for his secondary school education. Gomba obtained a BA in English at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu State. His MA and Ph.D. in English Studies were earned at the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
- The inspiring lecturer boasts eight poetry collections, seven plays, and a collection of essays (due in a few weeks) under his belt.
- Prior to this win, Obari Gomba had been listed on four different occasions for the Nigeria Prize for Literature. (He won the fifth time he was selected). Interestingly, he was listed each time he competed — five times in ten years, back-to-back twice (2017 and 2018; 2022 and 2023). If he hadn’t taken the prize this year, he would still have established an inspiring record of consistency.
- When asked about his favorite writer, he answered in the negative. But he does admire a lot of writers, including Soyinka, Achebe, Okigbo, Okara, (JP) Clark, (Ola) Rotimi, Osofisan, Osundare, Ofeimun, (Chimalum) Nwankwo, Iyayi, (Elechi) Amadi, Saro-Wiwa, Ojaide, and Okri.
- Obari Gomba is the current vice president of the Association of Nigerian Authors.
- He teaches Creative Writing, African Poetry, and African-American Caribbean Literature at the University of Port Harcourt.
- We also inquired about when he prefers to write, to which he responded that he writes any time of the day, depending on the atmosphere. He is not time-specific when it comes to writing.
- Beyond writing, he enjoys other activities. Soccer is his most preferred sporting activity, and he joked that in his next life, he wishes to be a soccer star.
- Finally, our conversation led to Nigeria and we asked the one thing he would love to change about the country. Unsurprisingly, Gomba says ‘Corruption.’ (His play, Grit, is set in a politically unstable community).
Bonus: Obari Gomba is working on staging his play, Grit, in the city of Port Harcourt. He is married to a medical doctor and has beautiful children.
Image: Courtesy of Obari Gomba
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