The winners, who were selected from over 160 submissions, will walk away with a cash prize of $200, while the longlisted works will be published in Isele’s annual print project, The Best of Isele Anthology.
By Hope Ibiale
One of Nigeria’s literary magazines, Isele Magazine, has announced the winners of its annual edition of the Isele Prizes. This literary project celebrates the best of poetry, short stories, and essays. This year, the winners of the prizes include Jennifer Dickinson (short story prize), Ashia Ajani (poetry prize), and Chinonso Nzeh (nonfiction prize), who were selected for their works, namely, Pink Flower, Two Poems, and The Slipping Away, respectively.
The winners, who were selected from over 160 submissions, will walk away with a cash prize of $200, while the longlisted works will be published in Isele’s annual print project, The Best of Isele Anthology.
Jennifer Dickinson is a writer, book coach, and writing teacher, who fell in love with fiction after reading Jill McCorkle’s works. Her writing has appeared in The Florida Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, Maudlin House, Isele Magazine, Mom Egg Review, and many others. Dickinson also received the Hedgebrook residency and a Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation grant.
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Ashia Ajani is a multi-genre environmental storyteller and educator hailing. Asides from writing, Ajani is also a lecturer in the African American Studies Department at UC Berkeley and a climate-resilient schools educator and researcher with Mycelium Youth Network. Their debut poetry collection, Heirloom, is forthcoming in April 2023 with Write Bloody Publishing.
Chinonso Nzeh is a writer and a law student at the University of Lagos who is interested in researching and writing legal theories on gender and hopes that he can make an impact in dismantling the systemic homophobic and patriarchal laws that underpin the Nigerian legal system. His works have been published in Evergreen Review, Agbowó, The Shallow Tales Review, Isele Magazine, Black Boy Review, Ibadan Arts, and elsewhere.
Founded by Nigerian author, Ukamaka Olisakwe, Isele Magazine is a literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and book reviews. The magazine strives to publish writers and artists who hold a mirror to our society and who challenge conventional expectations about ways of being, how to be, and who decides who we should be. Aside from the Isele Prizes, created to reward their contributors, Isele also publishes a bi-monthly web magazine, a quarterly series, and a seasonal blog.