Nigerian author and publisher Lola Shoneyin has taken home the Akada 2025 Children’s Book of the Year Award for Tunde Onakoya: The Chess Champion, a vivid retelling of the life of chess prodigy Tunde Onakoya, whose journey from the slums of Lagos to global recognition has inspired millions.
Published by Ouida Books and launched on May 27, 2025, to coincide with Children’s Day, the 60-page biography introduces young readers to Onakoya’s discovery of chess in a barber’s shop and his eventual creation of Chess in Slums Africa, a nonprofit that now mentors thousands of children across Nigeria.
Founded by Olubunmi Aboderin Talabi, the Akada Children’s Book Festival (ACBF) is Nigeria’s first and largest book festival dedicated exclusively to children’s literature. Since its debut in 2019, it has become a leading platform for authors, illustrators, and educators committed to expanding children’s reading culture. Shoneyin also won the festival’s inaugural award in 2024 for her picture book Anyibo and the Mother Hen.
Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian author, poet, and publisher. She is best known for her novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010), a perceptive, entertaining, and eye-opening novel of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria.
Shoneyin has published three poetry collections and has received the PEN Award in the U.S. and the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for Prose in Nigeria. Named among the Hay Festival’s Africa39 writers, she also founded the Aké Arts and Book Festival in Lagos, a major platform for African authors and readers. In 2017, Brittle Paper named her African Literary Person of the Year.
Congratulations, Lola Shoneyin!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
