By Prisca Sam-Duru

The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024 is nearing its climax. Last week, the Advisory Board for the prize, led by erudite scholar and author, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, announced a shortlist of three in the competition focusing on Children’s literature.

From the final list, a winner will be announced in October and will receive a cash award of $100,000 from the sponsor of the prestigious literature prize- Nigeria LNG limited.

Author and dramatist Olubunmi Familoni, is one of the finalists, a position he earned with his book, “The Road Does Not End”. In addition to writing plays, Familoni writes short fiction, and essays. His collection of stories, Smithereens of Death, won the ANA Prize for Short Stories in 2015; his children’s book, I’ll Call My Brother for You, won the ANA Prize for Children’s Literature in 2020; the manuscript for his novel, The Becoming-Nothing of Bodies, was longlisted for the Island Prize in 2023; his play, When Big Masquerades Dance Naked, was longlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2023 and was a joint winner of the ANA Prize for Drama in 2023.

His making the longlist of the prize last year already indicates this isn’t his first time entering for the competition but it’s his first time getting to the finals. With joy, Familoni told Saturday Vanguard in an exclusive interview that he feels, “Elated and fortunate.” He plans to invest more in literature for a good number of reasons, if he clinches the prize this year.

The author said he was inspired by the need to do something that will be of benefit to out-of-school children in the country.

He said, “The direness of the out-of-school children crisis in Nigeria (about 18 million children, from primary to junior secondary level), was the primary inspiration. Also, what its impact would be in not just individual terms but also, how the country’s future as a whole would be adversely affected motivated me to write the book.”

Themes explored in the book he noted, cover “The importance of family relations in shaping the characters of children; the importance of quality formal education was emphasized; the importance of friendships, and respect for cultural values.”

The Advisory Board for the Nigeria Prize for Literature gave reasons his book made the final list. According to the Board, “The Road Does Not End by Familoni Oluranti Olubunmi addresses the critical issue of child labour in society. The book explores themes of resilience and human connection, emphasising the importance of relationships and the need for continuous self-improvement.” And for the author, the book is unique in the sense that the language and style employed stand it out. “The language is very accessible, and it is an enjoyable story, with twists and turns that would keep a reader, especially a young one, interested through the entire journey,” he said.

He is very much hopeful that these qualities are enough to make him become $100,000 richer. In addition, the book stands out as he was able to “Tell the story with a lot of humour that children can relate to and imagery that is easily recognizable by children.”

Familoni has this to say regarding literary genres he works on and why he is able to switch from one to the other. “I’m very comfortable writing drama. And the navigation is easy since it’s all just about telling stories. For children’s literature, growing up and reading a lot of Mabel Segun, Cyprian Ekwensi and S.M.O Aka got me interested in stories for children.”

Commending Nigeria LNG for initiating and sustaining the Prize for two decades, Familoni stressed that “The prize is important most especially for what it does in awarding excellence especially, in genres that do not have such prestigious prizes that pay attention to works of writers in those genres such as children’s literature and drama.

Also NLNG has invested so much in improving the general reading culture by collaborating with the writers and publishers to make books available, through literary events such as book readings, book tours, the book party, etc.”

To ensure quality books are made available for young ones, he stressed the need for any intending writers of children’s literature to “Read more children’s literature and interact with children; learn their language and write from their perspective.”