Ogaga Ifowodo Wins $100,000 For Poetry On Violence

Poetry exploring the human cost of violence in Nigeria has earned Ogaga Ifowodo the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature and its $100,000 award.
The Nigerian poet, lawyer and activist won with Why Does God Need a Gun?, a collection published by Masobe Books that the prize’s advisory board chair, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, described as a sensitive portrayal of religious and political violence, told through the perspective of an imagined victim.
The collection emerged from a field of 223 entries in this year’s poetry competition. Ifowodo faced James Ngwu Eze, whose shortlisted work was Unbind Me Now, and Tares Oburumu, author of Floral’s Love Colony, in the final round.
The win marks anothe...