British-Nigerian author, Chidi Ebere has been unveiled as the winner of the 2024 RSL Christopher Bland Prize for Now I Am Here published by Pan Macmillan Books.
According to Pan Macmillan Books:
“Chidi Ebere’s debut novel is a profound reflection on how good people can do terrible things – precipitated by circumstances and the violence of war. As he recounts the events leading to his disastrous finale, we learn how this gentleman is gradually transformed into a war criminal, committing acts he wouldn’t have thought himself capable of. Unflinching, thought-provoking and devastating, ‘Now I Am Here’ resonates far beyond the individual story of our narrator”.
Chidi Ebere was born and raised in Oxford and spent part of his childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK. His short stories have appeared in UK Cosmopolitan, Ambit, and West 8. He has also written on architecture and urbanism for Archis, Harvard Design Magazine, the Journal of Architecture and others. He now lives in Amsterdam. Now I Am Here is his first novel.
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to “reward literary merit and excite literary talent”. A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elected from among the best writers in any genre currently at work.
Congratulations, Chidi!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
