Osunde will be honoured at a virtual Award Ceremony scheduled for Sunday, December 3rd, 2023.
By Helena Olori
Nigerian writer and author of the novel, Vagabonds!, Eloghosa Osunde, has been announced as the winner of the 2023 African Literary Award organised by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD).
Osunde bested the other shortlisted authors—Meron Hadero, for A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times; Arinze Ifeakandu, for God’s Children Are Little Broken Things; and Noor Naga, for If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, to claim the title.
The award honours African authors who have published literary works that enhance global understanding and deepen appreciation of African lives and storytelling. It is awarded to authors whose books have been read by the museum’s African Book Club.
(Read also: Arinze Ifeakandu’s God’s Children Are Little Broken Things Set to Debut in Nigeria)
Vagabonds! is Osunde’s debut novel published by Riverhead Books in 2022. The book is a compilation of short stories that blend “unvarnished realism with myth and fantasy. It traces a wild array of outlawed characters—the queer, the poor, the displaced, the footloose and rogue spirits—otherwise known as “vagabonds” while addressing the insidious nature of Nigerian capitalism, corruption, and oppression.
“Vagabonds! is a book dear to me for many reasons that would still be true even if I wasn’t its author”, shared Osunde. “I know it’s a book that imagines bravely for and around everyone who feels on the outside of things; I know it acts with deep love toward the people who need it most; I know it is ours.”
The novel, a work of imagination, was longlisted by the Centre for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, shortlisted for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, and named a Most Anticipated Book of The Year by The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, amongst others.
(Read also: Morland African Writing Scholarship Announces 2023 Winners)
Eloghosa Osunde, an alumna of the Caine Prize Workshop, has works featured in multiple publications including the Paris Review, Gulf Coast, etc. She will be honoured at the virtual Award Ceremony on Sunday, December 3rd, at 12 pm PST/2100 WAT.
The programme will include a live reading and conversation to be moderated by African Book Club co-founder, Faith Adiele. For registrations, see here.
Vagabonds is available for purchase at the MoAD Bookstore.