2023 African Literature Festival holds in Oxford September 3

The 2023 edition of The African Literature Festival, organised by the James Currey Society, will kick off in Oxford, United Kingdom, on Friday, September 1, and runs through Sunday, September 3. In a bid to give more African writers the opportunity to enter for the annual prize, the organisers have extended the deadline for the 2023 James Currey Prize for African Literature from April 1, to June 12. The James Currey Prize, worth £1, 000, will be awarded to the overall winner. The prize is awarded by a panel of judges appointed each year by the World Arts Agency. This year’s jury is headed by Nigerian journalist, novelist, playwright and children’s literature author, Henry Akubuiro. Other members of the jury include Masende Ntshaga (South Africa), Debbie Edwards (UK/Saint Lucia), Tatthiana Cassiano (Brazil), Kakwenza Rukirabasiaja (Uganda), Javier Lozano, and Nneoma Otuegbe (UK/Nigeria). The prize is awarded annually for the best unpublished full-length work of prose fiction; a novel; written in English. The winner of the prize will be selected from a long list of 10 titles, followed by a shortlist of three outstanding manuscripts submitted for the prize. Writers born in Africa, who are national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African, are eligible to participate. According to the organisers, only previously unpublished prose fiction submissions in English will be considered for the prize. The winning manuscript will be published by Abibiman Publishing UK. The winner of the prize will also be invited to The African Literature Festival taking place in Oxford. The Chair of the Jury, Akubuiro, has encouraged African writers to enter for the prize: “The James Currey Prize for African Literature is one of the respected pan-African literary prizes awarded in the UK, named in honour of the legendary Prof. James Currey, who pioneered the Heinemann African Writers Series,’’ he said. He stated further that; “A brain child of Onyeka Nwelue, the prize is awarded on merit, and among its major attractions are a publishing contract awarded by Abibiman for the winning entry and an automatic invitation for the author to attend the glamorous African Literature Festival in Oxford later in the year. Some entries have come in already. We are expecting more before the June 12 deadline.”