Quramo Writers Prize releases longlist

THE Quramo Writers Prize (QWP) 2024 has released a longlist of 20 manuscripts for the 8th edition of the prize for budding writers.

The longlist of 20 precedes the final shortlist of five in September and the emergence of a winner at the annual Quramo Festival (QFest), themed ‘The Shifting: Empowering Voices… Inspiring Minds’, which aims to highlight the evolving nature of literature and its power to inspire change.

The Quramo Festival 2024 will be held from October 2 to 6 at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, with the winner getting a one-million-naira cash prize and a publishing contract.

Editorial Manager, Quramo Publishing Ltd, OmoteniolaAkinwalere, announced the longlisted writers, a diverse group that includes: Adeseri Emmanuella, Martin Chukwumah, Kabir Sabe Jibia, Salome Abiodun Medemaku, Arthur Gabriel Yak, Chukwumah Jonathan Jonathan, Amaka Azie, Sandra Uche Delumozie, Bisola Akintomide and Oyeleye Esther Eniola, Chidi Nwakpa and Henry Chukwuemeka Onyema.

Others are Lawal Ayuba Adewale, Ifeanyi Kalu, Ornguze Nashima Nathaniel, Immaculate Halla, Adikaibe Caleb Chidera, VandefanAondogu Fidelis, Joseph Olamide Babalola and Deryus Kwabena Partey.

Writer and Executive Director of Business Development at Narrative Landscape Press, Dr Eghosa Imasuen; author, editor and Chief Executive Officer at Finished Work Enterprises, Mrs Lechi Eke; and writer/ founder of online culture news platform, TheArtHubNg, Mr. AnoteAjeluorou are the three-person jury reviewing the manuscripts. They are respected figures in the literary community and will choose the final five and the eventual winner.

The Quramo Writers Prize was established in 2017 with a N1 million cash prize. It aims to discover new unpublished African writers. It offers the winner a publishing contract to kick-start their writing career. Each year, the prize begins with a call for a 30,000-word fiction manuscript submission, followed by a long list of 20 writers, from which a 3-man jury produces a shortlist of five, which leads to the announcement of an eventual winner.

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