Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa is a pan African writing prize for books of any type or genre. It was established by The Lumina Foundation in 2005 in honor of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in literature

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

, Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...

. The prize is awarded every other year, and the winner receives $20,000. Entries must be written in English or French. Books that have won other prizes ineligible.

Previous winners

Previous winners:

• 2010: (shared prize)
  • I Do Not Come To You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Unwaubani
  • Coconut by Kopano Matlwa
  • Tenants of The House by Wale Okediran
• 2008: Zahrah the Windseeker
  Zahrah the Windseeker
  Zahrah the Windseeker , written by Nnedi Okorafor, is one of a very small handful of young adult fantasy novels that incorporate the myths and folklore and culture of West Africa. It is the winner of the 2008 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa...
  
  by Nnedi Okorafor
• 2006: Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta
  Sefi Atta
  Sefi Atta was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1964, to a family of five children. Her father Abdul-Aziz Atta was the Secretary to Federal Government and Head of the Civil Service until his death in 1972, and she was raised by her mother Iyabo Atta....
  
  . The maiden prize took place on August 5th, 2006 at the Muson Centre, Lagos.

External links

• The Lumina Foundation, official website.