Anambra State endows N1million annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Nigerian writing, Govermment spokesperson, C. Don Adinuba, has said.
Named the Chinua Achebe Prize for Nigerian Writing, it is to be awarded to the best novel published by a Nigerian writer in each calendar year.
This was announced on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) which Achebe co-founded in 1981.
The Prize is to be administered by ANA, Adinuba said in Awka today while speaking to journalists.
The spokesperson said the prize is distinctive from the existing ANA Fiction Prize, ANA Poetry Prize, and ANA Drama Prize.
It will draw entries from distinguished publishers in Nigeria, Africa and the world, he said.
This provides opportunity for the Nigerian Diaspora that rates quite high on the literary front to identify strongly with the home front.
Chinua Achebe blazed a trail in world literature when he published the classic Things Fall Apart on June 17, 1958 at barely 27 years of age.
The novel has since been translated to well over 60 languages and ignited a boom in African writing.
The other novels of Achebe are No Longer At Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, and Anthills of the Savannah.
ANA President, Prof. Camilus Uka, of Imo State University commended Governor Obiano for the honour to Achebe.
“It is reassuring that there are top government officials like Chief Obiano who appreciate ideas, letters and culture.”
Professor Uka said that the governor’s gesture has galvanised ANA to consider holding a meeting in Awka to mark the association’s 40th anniversary as it has already done in some Nigerian cities.
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