The Abebi AfroNonfiction Institute has revealed the shortlist for the 2025 Abebi Award in AfroNonfiction, a prize that ‘celebrates and elevates personal nonfiction narratives by African women and foregrounds lived experience, identity and truth-telling at a time when nonfiction remains underrepresented in the continent’s literary landscape’.
A total of 11 writers made the 2025 shortlist. They are:
- A Lineage of Mantles by Chisom Benedicta Nsiegbunam
- Hold Me in Love, Hide Me in God by Chinwendu Queenette Nwangwa
- In the Name of God by Amira Abdul-Azeez
- Ka Rira Lorun by Sapphire Mclaniyi-Agbley
- ripe fruit by Ebibode Jojo
- The Miseducation of Good Girls by Chidera Udochukwu-Nduka
- The Things I Inherited That Were Not Mine by Olabisi Bello
- The Weight of Little Things by Tehila Okagbue
- The Weight of Our Bodies by Nneoma Kenure
- There Is a Bullet With Your Name On It by Erere Onyuegbo
- Watching My Mother’s Hands by Oluwatobi Afolabi
Established in 2023, the Abebi Award in AfroNonfiction celebrates bold and intimate nonfiction narratives by African women, encouraging the exploration of personal, cultural, and social realities through creative nonfiction. Named after Alhaja Abebi Monsurat Lasaki, the prize seeks to amplify voices often constrained by silence, stigma, and inherited shame.
Congratulations to all shortlisted writers!
