Ayobami Adebayo has won the anticipated 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature, for her debut novel “Stay with Me Today”.
The 9mobile Prize for Literature which began as the Etisalat Prize for Literature, has experienced unprecedented setbacks as a result of change in ownership. The prize aims to showcase African literature, while discovering new talents coming out of the continent.
The 9mobile Prize for Literature celebrates new writers of African citizenship whose first fiction book (over 30,000 words) was published in the last twenty four (24) months. Asides the £15,000 prize money, there are lots of other promises including; two readings by the author at different locations in Africa, and a 9mobile Fellowship at the University of East Anglia mentored by Professor Giles Foden (author of The Last King of Scotland) which will include significant opportunities to meet other writers, publishers and most importantly work on their second book.
The trail for the prize then went cold with no announcement on either winner or future plans from its organisers. But things changed sometime this year, as the organized announced their intent to continue with the prize; new panel was constituted and here we are with a winner.
The winning novel focuses on a couple who experience trouble having children, and the disastrous chain of events that occur when a second wife enters their relationship. Ayobami Adebayo’s stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, and one was highly commended in the 2009 Commonwealth short story competition. She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. She also has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia where she was awarded an international bursary for Creative Writing.