For Tares Oburumu, seeing his name on the longlist for the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature was exciting. Making the shortlist, however, was something else entirely.
The Bayelsa-born poet, essayist and playwright had looked at the names surrounding his on the longlist and wondered whether his work could survive the scrutiny of a panel judging alongside academics, professors and established writers.
Then came the shortlist.
“I was shocked,” Oburumu said in an interview ahead of the announcement of this year’s winner. “At the same time, I was excited.”
Sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), the Nigeria Prize for Literature is one of Nigeria’s most prominent literary awards. Its annual cycle rotates among poetry, prose, drama and children’s literature, giving writers an opportunity to have their work assessed on a national stage.
For the three poets who made this year’s shortlist – Oburumu, James Eze and Ogaga Ifowodo – the journey has been about more than a possible prize. It has brought renewed attention to poetry as a vehicle for memory, history, identity and the frustrations of contemporary Nigeria.
*Oburumu’s journey from a village classroom*
Oburumu’s path to the shortlist did not begin in a university lecture hall or an elite literary circle.
He grew up in a village where access to books was limited and schoolchildren often had to sit on mud floors. There was no school library, and he did not have the privilege of discovering literature early.
He said he began reading seriously at about 14, when he encountered copies of Chinua Achebe’s *Things Fall Apart* and *Chike and the River* in a makeshift library inside his grandfather’s house.
Those books opened a door.
“From reading, I started writing a little,” he said.
His formal writing career developed much later, particularly after university. A graduate of the University of Benin, where he studied philosophy and religion, Oburumu has since published poetry in journals and magazines and produced seven poetry chapbooks.
He describes himself as a poet, essayist and playwright and says he has also mentored more than 1,000 young Nigerian poets.
The NLNG recognition, therefore, arrived after years of writing, mentoring and submitting work.
“I think any writer of Nigerian origin presently writing would feel excited when they see their name on the longlist,” he said.
*A book about how Nigeria got its name*
Oburumu’s shortlisted collection, *Flora’s Love Colony*, takes its starting point from a question that he believes many Nigerians rarely ask: How did Nigeria get its name?
His interest was sparked by Flora Shaw, the British journalist and writer who coined the name “Nigeria” in the late 19th century and later married Frederick Lugard.
Oburumu became interested in the circumstances surrounding the naming of the country and the colonial history that followed.
His questions grew larger.
Why did the name remain after independence? Why was there little or no consultation with the people who lived in the territories that eventually became Nigeria? And what does the persistence of a colonial name say about the country’s relationship with its own history?
Those questions became the foundation for the book.
For Oburumu, the story is also connected to what he sees as the consequences of removing or weakening history in the education system.
He believes Nigerians should understand how the country was formed, including its pre-colonial societies, colonial experience, amalgamation and post-independence struggles.
“If you really want to know the history of Nigeria, from the pre-colonial times to the colonial times, the influences to the post-colonial era, the Biafra War and the little skirmishes here and there, you should pick up the book,” he said.
He does not, however, want to tell readers what they should find in it.
“What is unique about the book is left for the readers to find out,” he said.
*Beyond the prize money*
Winning the Nigeria Prize for Literature would have a practical consequence for Oburumu beyond personal recognition.
He has a dream of establishing a library for secondary-school pupils in his village in Delta State.
The project remains unfinished, but he sees the possibility of winning the prize as an opportunity to move the project closer to reality.
“The most pronounced idea in my head is how to finish my project and then the rest will follow,” he said.
His advice to writers who did not make the longlist or shortlist is equally straightforward: continue writing.
“Writing is about being consistent,” he said. “You fail, you get up, you write. You fail, you get up, you write. Consistency wins.”
For Oburumu, literary success is not necessarily confined to one award.
“There are a lot of prizes out there,” he said. “Keep writing, keep influencing life, keep touching lives, keep dreaming.”
*James Eze: ‘It means recognition’*
For James Eze, the news of his longlisting arrived unexpectedly.
He was at his desk in Enugu when he received a telephone call from fellow writer and reviewer Ugo Chukwu Anadi.
Anadi congratulated him.
Eze was puzzled.
“Congrats for doing what exactly?” he asked.
His friend told him his name was on the NLNG longlist.
Eze screamed.
He knew immediately what the recognition meant.
“Being on the NLNG longlist is not just about the fact that you stand a chance of getting to the finals, making the shortlist and probably winning the prize itself,” he said. “It is rather more the fact that your work has gained recognition.”
For Eze, the significance lies in having a work produced largely in solitude examined by literary experts and deemed worthy of recognition.
He also sees the award as part of NLNG’s wider contribution to Nigerian literature.
According to him, the prize has provided an important platform for writers over more than two decades and has become a significant reference point for Nigerian literary careers.
“Once you have made the NLNG longlist, it’s a big deal to your career,” he said. “It means your efforts have not gone unnoticed.”
*From longlist to shortlist*
The transition from the longlist to the shortlist brought a different emotion.
Eze, who is a poet and cultural organiser from Enugu State, said the shortlist made him reflect less on his own literary credentials and more on what he described as divine grace.
He noted that the longlist included academics and professors who had spent decades teaching literature and poetry.
“I discovered the immensity of God’s grace,” he said.
For him, reaching the final stage was not simply the result of effort or professional credentials.
“It is not down to my effort alone,” he said. “I think it’s just the grace of God manifesting in a profound way.”
*Unbinding Now*: poetry as a record of the times
Eze’s shortlisted collection, *Unbinding Now*, takes a more confrontational route.
The book examines Nigeria’s political and social realities through poetry, touching on insecurity, the abduction of schoolchildren, economic hardship, displacement and the frustrations of citizens.
Eze describes it as a book of outrage and protest – an attempt to make society examine itself.
“The book is a compressed history of modern Nigeria in poetry,” he said.
For him, poetry is not simply an artistic exercise. It can preserve moments that societies might otherwise forget.
“Memory is short,” he said. “So we have things to aid us, to make sure we do not forget.”
That philosophy runs through *Unbinding Now*, where the poet often assumes the role of an observer and interpreter of public anger.
Eze said the poet has a responsibility to articulate emotions that many citizens experience but cannot necessarily express in language.
“Everybody complains in Nigeria, but not everybody has the gift to put their grievances together like this,” he said.
One of the poems in the collection, *The Voice of the Streets*, places the poet directly among ordinary Nigerians.
“My poetry belongs to the streets,” Eze said, explaining the poem’s premise. It speaks to traders, commuters and citizens whose frustrations form part of the country’s everyday soundtrack.
The poet, in Eze’s conception, becomes a voice for those grievances.
*A poetry collection that refuses to look away*
Eze said *Unbinding Now* does not seek refuge in nostalgia.
Instead, it confronts contemporary Nigeria.
The collection, he said, reflects the experiences of Nigerians who have witnessed insecurity, economic alienation, displacement and a rising cost of living.
It also considers the paradox of Nigerians succeeding around the world while struggling with the conditions of their own country.
“How come we have Nigerians flourishing, doing well in every part of the world, but we have failed as a people living together on our home soil?” he asked.
That question sits at the heart of his collection.
The book is deliberately uncomfortable, he said, because its purpose is to interrogate rather than reassure.
“It speaks inconvenient truths,” Eze said.
The collection has also moved beyond the printed page. Eze said some of the poems have been adapted into music to reach audiences who may not ordinarily read poetry.
The accompanying songs are intended to extend the reach of the poems beyond literary circles and into everyday listening spaces.
*Between history and the present*
Although Oburumu and Eze approach their work from different directions, their books share an interest in Nigeria beyond the headlines.
Oburumu looks backwards, asking readers to reconsider the history behind the country’s name and the colonial forces that shaped its identity.
Eze looks at the present, using poetry to document frustration, insecurity and the desire for a more functional society.
Both, however, see literature as more than entertainment.
For Oburumu, it can reconnect Nigerians with a history many have forgotten.
For Eze, it can preserve the emotional record of a society struggling with its present.
And for both poets, the NLNG shortlist has brought their work into a larger national conversation.
The eventual winner will receive the prize. But before that announcement, the three shortlisted poets have already achieved something that matters to writers: their books have been read, debated and placed under the national literary spotlight.
For Oburumu, the lesson is persistence.
For Eze, it is recognition and responsibility.
And for Nigerian poetry, the shortlist offers another reminder that verse can still carry the weight of a country’s history, anger, memory and hope.
