Nigerian poet Abu Bakr Sadiq has been shortlisted for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2026, following the official announcement by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre.
Now in its seventh year, the prize is awarded annually for an outstanding debut poetry collection in English. Valued at €10,000, it is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin.
Sadiq is shortlisted for his debut collection, Leaked Footages (University of Nebraska Press), and is the only African writer among the five finalists announced.
Announcing the shortlist, judging panel chair Eoin McNamee, Director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, said:
“Along with fellow judges Seán Hewitt and Una Mannion it has once again been a privilege to read first collections of poetry and to choose a shortlist for this year’s Pollard International Poetry Prize. We found ourselves beguiled, held to our task by invention, by poetic languages that are lyric, political, urgent, striking a balance between the ethereal and the worldly. We commend these poets to you”
A Nigerian poet. Abu Bakr Sadiq is the winner of the 2022 IGNYTE award for Best Speculative Poetry. His work is nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Rhysling Award, and is published or forthcoming in Boston Review, Mizna, Palette Poetry, FIYAH, Uncanny Magazine, Augur Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Covert Literary Magazine, Zone 3 Press Magazine, Iskanchi Press & Magazine, The Lit Quarterly, Rockvale Review, Best of New Myths Anthology, and elsewhere.
The winner of the 2026 prize will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity in April 2026.
Congratulations, Abu Bakr Sadiq!
