Unigwe wins $100,000 LNG literary prize

AUTHOR, Chika Unigwe, who is based in Belgium, has won this year’s The Nigeria Prize for Literature with her work, On Black Sisters’ Street. The prize is sponsored by the gas company, Liquefied Natural Gas Company.
Unigwe beat two other authors – Olusola Olugbesan (Only a Canvas) and Ngozi Achebe (Onaedo: The Blacksmith’s Daughter) to clinch the prestigious and Africa’s biggest prize in literature. It is the first time the prize would be opened to Nigerians living abroad.
While announcing the 2012 winner yesterday in Lagos on behalf of the prize jury, Chairman of the prize board, Emeritus professor, Prof. Ayo Banjo, said although the three “novels deal with issues concerning the plight of women in the past and in the present, Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street is focused specifically on the very precarious situation of women, particularly the issue of sex slavery. In her depiction of the socio-economic conditions in Nigeria, Unigwe displays grasp of narrative techniques as well as excellent description capabilities.”