Iheoma J. Uzomba Wins the 2026 Evaristo Prize!
The 2026 Evaristo Prize Winner Announced!
This year’s judging panel, comprised of poets Ladan Osman (Chair), Tsitsi Jaji, and Leila Chatti, selected Iheoma J. Uzomba’s “Father’s Love” as the winner of this year’s Evaristo Prize.
Iheoma J. Uzomba (Nigeria) is a winner of the Lagos-London poetry prize, a longlistee of the Poetically-Written Prose Contest, and a fellow at The Undertow program. Her poems have been published and are forthcoming in Palette Poetry, Rattle Magazine, The Shore Poetry, Kissing Dynamite, The Rising Phoenix Review, Ake Review and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter/X @iheomauzomba.
Iheoma J. Uzomba will receive a prize of USD $1,500, and her poems will be published on the African Poetry Book Fund’s site in May.
The judging panel also selected two honorable mentions:
- Another Name for Fire – McLord Selasi Azalekor (Ghana)
- Matrilineage Tryptych – Raneem Bakir Alia (Morocco)
Warm congratulations, also, to the shortlisted poets who were announced earlier this month:
- Àlàáfíà – Alobu Emmanuel (Nigeria)
- Boy With A List In His Pocket – Joemario Umana (Nigeria)
- Intshabalalo Kuphela – Joel Oyeleke (Nigeria)
- Self-introduction As Visa Applicant – Chisom Eze (Nigeria)
- Still Life as Coffin Maker – Migwi Mwangi (Kenya)
- Supply Chain – Tim Fab-Eme (Nigeria)
First established as the Brunel International African Poetry Prize (BIAPP) in 2012 by British writer Bernardine Evaristo, who founded and managed the prize for ten years, the Evaristo Prize was renamed and has been administered by the African Poetry Book Fund since 2022. President of the UK’s Royal Society of Literature and a celebrated writer, Bernardine Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, essays, drama, criticism, and journalism.
The African Poetry Book Fund thanks all the poets who have shared their work with us. Every year, we look forward to receiving and engaging with the poems of emerging African writers.