CORA-NPL Book Party: Eleven Poets, One Prize

Yinka Olatunbosun

The air inside the Shell Zenith Hall at the MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos buzzed with an electric energy that only literature and lived experience can brew. Outside, the Lagos sun was aglow. Inside, the auditorium lights were dimmed to heighten the effect of the warm glow of the stage lights where eleven distinct poetic voices were articulated to transform ink on paper into a living, breathing symphony.

It was the 17th CORA-NPL Book Party, an annual literary feast hosted by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) in partnership with Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG). The gathering was designed with a simple yet radical purpose: to bring books off the cold shelf and thrust them directly into public conversation. From a fierce field of 223 submissions vying for the $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature, eleven poetry collections had emerged on the prestigious 2026 longlist. On this Sunday afternoon, writers, critics, students, and cultural enthusiasts gathered to celebrate the power of the written word.

A convergence of people who value the craft and power of words as well as the economy of language made the book party an elite item on the culture calendar. As the audience settled, the atmosphere felt less like a stiff literary reading and more like a family reunion of masters and trailblazers. A quiet buzz swept through the hall as literary veterans Tanure Ojaide and Ogaga Ifowodo took their places, marking a dramatic reunion nine years after their near-miss for the same prize. Ojaide’s collection, Adult Love, offered tender, reflective windows into the childhood memories that shape mature values, while Ifowodo’s fierce, probing Why Does God Need a Gun? confronted contemporary power dynamics with unmistakable weight.

When the readings began, the stage became a canvas of sprawling African realities, displacement, memory, and spiritual reclamation.

One by one, the poets—some joining physically under the Lagos lights, others beaming virtually across time zones—gifted the audience snippets of their craft. Paul Akpomuje’s Black Passport and Ajibola Tolase’s 2000 Blacks struck deeply emotional chords, mapping the anxieties, political motivations, and spiritual costs of modern African migration. Saddiq Dzukogi took the microphone to share stanzas from Bakandamiya: An Elegy, a sweeping epic poem that reimagines the ancient legend of Bayajidda to mourn lost horizons.

The room grew quiet as the elegiac tones of Rasaq Malik Gbolahan’s The Origin of Wounds and Adedayo Agarau’s The Years of Blood echoed through the speakers, delving fearlessly into historical conflicts, Yoruba cosmology, and the tragic price of human violence. Yet, amidst the weight of history, there was profound healing. Theresa Lola’s Ceremony for the Nameless explored the sacred dignity of naming and belonging, while Ayo Oyeku’s Corpus: Animistic Verses invited listeners into a lyrical realm where nature and spirit collide. Tares Oburumu brought the ecology of the Niger Delta into sharp focus with Floral’s Love Colony, confronting resource exploitation through intimate verse, while James Ugwu Eze’s Unbind Me Now resonated as a passionate cry for personal and collective liberation.

In her address, Sophia Horsfall of NLNG noted that while the company produces energy to power homes, literature provides the energy that powers hope and critical thought across generations. CORA Secretary-General Toyin Akinosho reminded everyone that the Book Party exists to ensure books are not merely announced on a podium, but read, dissected, challenged, and loved.

As the afternoon dissolved into vibrant panel debates, musical performances, and clinking glasses, the competition faded into the background. Though only one author would ultimately walk away with the grand prize in October, the party proved that Nigerian poetry was already the undisputed victor. Eleven poets had given voice to the nation’s griefs, dreams, and endurance—leaving an indelible mark on everyone in the room.