Nigerian novelist pronounced 2016 winner of the Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award (AWRA)

11:04 - 02 September 2016

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Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

award winning writer, novelist and journalist Abubakar Adam Ibrahim has been selected as the 2016 winner of the Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award (AWRA)

Nigerian writer Abubakar Adam Ibrahim has been selected as the 2016 winner of the Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award (AWRA). Sylt Foundadtion reported.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, award winning writer, novelist and journalist author of the acclaimed short story collection, The Whispering Trees, was described by judges as an "extraordinary writer who brings into the English language both a technical proficiency and a spirit of a distinctly non-English imagination. The ambitious literary project he will be working on during his residency is very contemporary and showed enormous strength“.

The judging panel Nii Parkes (writer, poet and previous winner, Ghana/GB), Sinenhlanhla Buthelezi (Library and Project Co-ordinator Goethe-Institut Johannesburg), and Indra Wussow (literary scholar, curator and director Sylt Foundation) chose Ibrahim out of an impressive list of strong contenders from 14 African countries.

Winner Abukabar Adam Ibrahim said: "This is most delightful news. I am happy and honoured to receive this nod and yes, I can confirm my participation in 2017. I have only heard good things about Sylt and I am excited to be awarded the place.“

Ibrahim, who lives in Abuja in Nigeria right now is the recipient of the Writer’s Residency Award which he will take up at the Sylt Foundation´s headquarters in 2017.

According to Sylt foundation, this new residency opportunity is awarded annually to writers of contemporary African literature. The previous winners were Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe in 2013, Ghanaian writer and poet Nii Parkes in 2014 and Ugandan writer Mildred Barya in 2015.

The Goethe-Institut & Sylt Foundation African Writer´s Residency Award (AWRA) provides a two months stay in a subsidized apartment to writers of contemporary African literature, who engage with current themes and concerns related to Africa and the African diaspora. The award is open to published writers of poetry, prose, plays and novels.