The Arole Agarawu Foundation has announced Nigerian-American poet Ameen Animashaun and Ghanaian poet Edinam Denoo as the inaugural winners of its African poetry prizes.
Established in memory of Alhaji Arole Agarawu (1930s–1995), whose work contributed significantly to Yoruba musical traditions such as Sakara, Apala, and Waka, the foundation seeks to recognize poets who demonstrate strong attention to form, language, and rhythm while continuing the tradition of African lyric expression.
Following an international reading cycle of 356 submissions and over 3,500 poems from Black poets across 21 countries, Ameen Animashaun won the Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize, the overall award, for his nine-poem suite, Dog Fighting a Heron. He receives a $1,000 prize.
In his words of appreciation, Ameen Animashaun says:
“I believe deeply in the importance of institutions that take African poetry seriously, that make space for the range of work being written across the continent and its diasporas, and that help build a lasting record of that work. To have my poems recognized in this way, and to be part of the beginning of what I believe will become an important prize in African poetry, is an incredible honor.”
In his citation, Guest Judge Matthew Shenoda, Professor & Chair, Department of Literary Arts, Brown University, had this to say about Ameen Animashaun’s Dog Fighting a Heron:
“In Ameen Animashaun’s suite of poems, we are introduced to a keen lyrical eye that refuses to separate the interiority of our being from the landscapes we trod on. Animashaun collapses these spaces into a world that gives us a greater sense of relation to the contemporary and historical ruptures we experience. His work moves the reader through a kind of syntactical arch, an arch that has the ability to bend our sense of time. His poems always feel at the edge of something; maybe it’s the edge of a continent, maybe the edge of the world, maybe the edge of time itself, but what is clear is that beyond that edge we sense there is a place of belonging and a glimpse into a much-needed mending. These are beautiful poems that make us look beyond our moment and open up to a different future.”
Winning the Arole Grayling Wraith Prize, the Continental Prize, is Edinam Denoo awarded for her complete two-sided suite, “Bonu Bonu Kpoo.”
Her award includes $1,000 and a cinematic poetry-film adaptation of a selected work from the suite, to be produced by media partner Grayling & Wraith in collaboration with the poet.
In her words, Edinam Denoo says:
“Receiving the Arole Grayling Wraith Prize is a profound and humbling milestone. I hope these poems carry a fracture of the rhythm, form, and truth Alhaji Arole Agarawu gave his craft. I am deeply grateful to the board of trustees, the guest Judge, Matthew Shenoda, and the foundation for this honor and for holding this space for the Black lyric.”
The foundation also named Nigerian poet Rafiat Lamidi and American poet Sydney Mayes as honorable mentions. Lamidi was recognised for “The Lord of Loneliness,” while Mayes received a commendation for “By The Sweat of The Mountain’s Brow.”
About The Winners
Ameen Animashaun is a writer whose work has appeared in Poets.org, Rattle Magazine, Salamander, and elsewhere. A graduate of WashU’s MFA program, he won the 2025 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry, the 2024 Academy of American Poets A.E. Claeyssens Jr. Poetry Prize, and the 2024 Starshine and Clay Fellowship. His full-length manuscript was a finalist for the Sillerman First Book Prize, and his chapbook Calling a Spade is forthcoming through the African Poetry Book Fund and Akashic Books.
Denoo Edinam Yawo is a Ghanaian poet and writer whose work delves into themes of the body, the politics of language, spirituality, and faith at the intersection of living. She is a 2025 Black Atlantic Residency Fellow, an alumna of the 2025 Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Studies (JIAS) Creative Writing Workshop for Emerging Writers, and an alumna of the 2025 Caine Prize Online Editing Workshop. She was Second Runner-Up in 2024 and First Runner-Up in 2025 for the Adinkra Poetry Prize and a recipient of the 2025 DUAPA Mentorship Program. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Guernica, New Coin, Tampered Press, Ubwali, and elsewhere.
Congratulations, Ameen Animashaun and Edinam Denoo!
