2018 NLNG Prize: Denja Abdullahi, 2 others on the shortlist.
Three books have been shortlisted for the 2018 NLNG Prize for Literature including “ Death and The King’s Grey Hair.” by Denja Abdullahi, the National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). The Advisory Board for the NLNG Prize lists other books on the shortlist as Embers by Soji Cole, and The Rally by Akanji Nasiru. The NLNG Prize for literature rotates annually amongst four literary genres – prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. The 2018 prize is for Drama genre, and 89 plays were submitted for the 2018 edition prize, from which a longlist of 11 were released in July this year. According to a Press Release signed by Andy Odeh, Manager, Communications and Public Affairs of the NLNG, Denja Abdullahi’s “ Death and The King’s Grey Hair” “confronts the issue of perpetuation in power, where rulers, like the king in this drama, employ all sorts of devices to cling on to power, long after they have overstayed their welcome”. Soji Cole