Nigerian writer, Anietie, set to win UK’s biggest literary prize

NIGERIAN writer, Anietie Isong, is among 22 authors shortlisted for the Betty Trask, McKitterick, Tom-Gallon and Somerset Maugham awards, according to The Society of Authors (SoA).

Mr Isong is shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize, which is awarded to a first novel by a writer over 40, for his debut novel, Radio Sunrise.

The awards presentation holds on July 19 in London at The Authors’ Awards, an event expected to see United Kingdom’s biggest literary fund of more than £98,000, awarded to established and emerging writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

The awards shortlist includes Man Booker-nominated Fiona Mozley; 2014 Tom-Gallon award winner, Benjamin Myers; Eric Gregory award-winning poet, Miriam Nash; Irish writers Valerie O’Riordan and Chris Connolly, and debut novelists Eli Goldstone, Omar Robert Hamilton, Masande Ntshanga and Sarah Day.

One of the McKitterick judges, Frances Fyfield, says of Isong’s Radio Sunrise: “A small volume, staying long in the imagination, with the huge backdrop of a young, utterly likeable Nigerian journalist trying to live a life and get ahead.

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“Lovely, simple first-person narrative of youthful manhood, getting it wrong, getting it right, learning on the hoof; makes the reader long to meet him, while engendering both hope and despair for the society he inhabits, all enlivened by humour.”

According to the Society of Authors, the judges for each award, including Joanne Harris, Samantha Shannon, Frances Fyfield, Abir Mukherjee, Irenosen Okojie, Jen Campbell and Paul Bailey, “were united in their praise for ‘compelling, sophisticated, original and emotionally charged’ writing with stories taking the reader from the landscapes of rural and urban Britain and on to the streets of Cairo, Cape Town, Australia and beyond, via themes of grief, love, justice, family and revolution.”

Isong had worked as a journalist, speechwriter and public relations manager in the UK and in Nigeria, and had earlier won some literary awards, including a Commonwealth Short Story Award and the Remember Oluwale Writing Prize.

He recently completed a doctorate in New Media and Writing at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Isong says of the award: “I think it is hugely important to have a literary prize which seeks to reward the debut novels of late starters.”

A graduate of the University of Ibadan, where he studied Communication Arts, Isong worked in broadcasting for Metro FM as scriptwriter before relocating to the United Kingdom where he earned a doctorate at the University of Leicester.

Among his poems and short stories, he had won the MUSON Poetry Award for ‘These Many Rivers’ and the Commonwealth Short Story Award for ‘Diary of an ECOMOG Soldier’.

According to Wikipedia, Isong also had a stint working with the Shell Petroleum Development Company as a Speech Writer, and at the University of Birmingham as International Press Officer.

He is the younger brother to Ms Emen Isong, the well-known Nollywood producer and screenplay writer. His work, ‘Radio Sunrise’, which he describes as “a satirical portrait of Nigeria,” explores the issue of bribery in the journalism profession.

The chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr Tony Elumelu, on his official twitter handle @TonyOElumelu, said Mr Isong once worked as Head of Marketing and Communication at Heirs Holdings prior to his PhD and writing pursuits.

“Today, Dr. Anietie Isong is a decorated writer and a nominee for the most coveted literary prize in the UK, the McKitterick Prize,” Elumelu said, then added in another tweet: “We’re proud of you @Anietie_Isong! Keep soaring #TEOWay #Africapitalism.

Presidential aspirant, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, is also excited about Isong’s nomination. On his twitter handle @atiku, he said: “It’s quite a delight to read the news of Nigerian being shortlisted for UK’s literary prize.

“I wish Mr Anietie Isong luck and it’s hoped tat his exploites will generate more interest in literature amongst young Nigerians.”

The Authors’ Awards, presented by Stephen Fry, will take place at RIBA on the evening of Thursday 19 July, 2018 and will play host to 400 guests from across publishing and SoA membership.

Further awards presented on the evening will include the Eric Gregory Award for a collection of poems by a poet under 30, the Cholmondely Award for a body of work by a poet, the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography, the winner of which has already been released as Giles Tremlett for ‘Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen (Bloomsbury)’ and ‘The Travelling Scholarships’ awarded to British creative writers to enable them to keep in contact with writing colleagues abroad.