The Abebi AfroNonfiction Institute has announced the winners of the 2025 Abebi Award in AfroNonfiction, honouring Nigerian women writers whose essays bear witness to lived experience with courage, literary rigour, and emotional clarity. The award continues its mission of creating space for women to tell their stories in ways that are honest, reflective, and rooted in personal truth.
Speaking on the purpose of the award, the founder of the Institute, Mofiyinfoluwa Okupe, said it was created to give women permission and power to tell their stories without apology. She noted that while fiction and poetry writers often enjoy multiple platforms and development opportunities, creative nonfiction does not always receive the same level of attention or support as a literary genre.
Okupe emphasised that the Abebi Award is intentionally designed to hear Nigerian women speak in their own voices, on their own terms, and through their chosen forms. According to her, the goal is to allow society to listen closely and learn from these experiences, recognising the value of women’s perspectives in shaping cultural and literary conversations.
“We believe literature can be both a mirror and a hammer,” she said. “These essays do not only reflect truth; they shape it. They break silence, build community, and remind us that women’s lived experiences are worthy of serious literary attention.”
Now in its third edition, the Abebi Award invited submissions on the theme “Witness,” encouraging writers to observe themselves, their communities, and the forces influencing their lives with radical honesty. The organisers disclosed that the 2025 call attracted over 200 submissions from Nigerian women writers, addressing themes such as grief, faith, embodiment, technology, survival, healing, and personal transformation.
Beyond the award itself, selected writers took part in an intensive creative nonfiction residency facilitated by Okupe. The programme focused on mind mapping, editorial development, close reading, and literary analysis, while also building a supportive creative community. Participants described the residency as transformative, providing both artistic growth and personal affirmation.
The 2025 Abebi Award winner is Sapphire Mclaniyi-Agbley for her essay Ká ríra lọrun, an intimate work presented in five fragments that holds a father’s death as both burden and gift, resisting easy binaries while exploring loss and freedom. The runner-up, Nneoma Kenure, was recognised for The Weight of Our Bodies, a reflective meditation on girlhood and the female form that examines objectification and self-surveillance before arriving at self-compassion.
Other notable entries include Chisom Benedicta Nsiegbunam’s A Lineage of Mantles, Erere Onyeugbo’s There Is a Bullet With Your Name On It, and Chinwendu Queenette Nwangwa’s Hold Me in Love, Hide Me in God. Sponsored by Selar, the Abebi Award in AfroNonfiction celebrates Nigerian women’s creative nonfiction through publication opportunities and international recognition.
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