The Oriire Folktale Prize has released its 2025 shortlist, recognizing ten storytellers who have reimagined and preserved traditional African folk narratives by retelling them with respect to their original cultural roots.
The selected stories are:
- Oche and The Sacred Drum by James Okoh
- The Story of Ogiso and Abhi by Stacey Osalumhense
- A Forest of Brothers by Yangmen Peter
- The Man Who Borrowed Time by Ikechukwu Henry
- The Origin of Day and Night by Chinwendu Calista
- Adaku and The Spirit of Gifts by Emmanuel Imemba
- The King and The Talking Drum by Rese J; Katangwan
- The Giant of Kagoro by Shallom Paul
- How Anansi’s Greed Brought Death to Live Among Men by Akunna Danugwu
- Ọmolewà by Ogundeko Toluwanimi Alexis.
Oriire is a digital cultural archive dedicated to preserving and celebrating African mythology, history and culture. Through in-depth articles, the Oriire Codex (an encyclopedia of deities, heroes, spirits, and creatures), and community-based storytelling initiatives, Oriire aims to tell rich, authentic stories of Africa to a global audience.
Public voting is open until 19 October 2025, 5:00 PM WAT, with one vote allowed per browser per day. Click here to cast your vote for the tale that speaks to you most.
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Sarah Adeyemo
Sarah Adeyemo is a poet, writer, editor, and spoken word artiste from Nigeria. She is a fellow of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship. Sarah has work published or forthcoming work in ANMLY Lit, D’Iit Review, The Fiery Scribe Review, Con-Scio Magazine, Sevhage Review, Okiti Literary, Synchronized Chaos Magazine, Pepper Coast Magazine, The Weeds Review, Akpata Magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, The Muse Journal, The Weganda Review, Everscribe Magazine, Afrillhill Press, TV-63 Magazine, Poems for Persons Interest, Northern Writers Forum Journal, Eboquills, Rinna Lit. Anthologies, and elsewhere. Her works have been shortlisted for the 2025 Labari Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the 2025 Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize. She serves as the Managing Editor at Words-Empire Magazine, a Poetry Editor at Yarnz Magazine, PFPOI, and a News & Feature writer at the Journal of African Youth Literature (JAY Lit). She was a writing resident of the Rongo Artist Residency in 2026 and is currently a writing resident at the Ebedi International Writers Residency. She is a member of The Swan Collective. A dramatic poet who tweets @sarahinkspires.
