JUDGES for the 2022 Earl Lovelace Short Fiction Prize have released a shortlist of six for the contest, according to the promoters of the project.
The shortlisted are Raphael Adebayo, ‘A Legacy of Negro Nihilism’; Reginald C. Ofodile, ‘Return and Revelation’, Ifeoma Aroh, ‘The Day Before Tomorrow’; Oluwabusayo Madariola, ‘The Season of Heavy Rains’, Okechi Okeke for ‘The Taste of Dust;’ and, Beco for ‘To Come’.
Chaired by Chioma Okereke (Britian/Nigeria), the jury members are also nclude Lidudumalingani (South Africa), Tathiana Cassano (Brazil), Ikenna Okeh (Nigeria) and Javier Gutierrez Lozano (Mexico).
Announcing the shortlist, the head of Jury, Okereke, poet, author and short story writer, disclosed, “It wasn’t an easy task, but I’m glad to see that there was a clear pattern in terms of the frontrunners!”
She said that winner of the prize will be announced on July 13, 2022 and will receive £500. Promoters of the prize, Onyeka Nwelue said, “Shortlisted authors will be published in an anthology by Abibiman Publishing, which will be edited by
Okereke’s debut novel, Bitter Leaf (2010), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Africa Best First Book 2011.
Dr. Nwelue, an Academic Visitor at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, said he instituted the prize to “honour the most important writer in the Caribbean.”
