Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and The Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) are championing public platforms to keep literature alive beyond the page.
The two organisations said this at the annual CORA Book Party in Lagos, where 11 poets longlisted for the 2026 edition of The Nigeria Prize for Literature presented their works.
The event was sequel to the announcement of the 2026 longlist. It provided a platform for the selected poets to read their works and engage with readers, critics, journalists, publishers, students, and members of the literary community.
The evening featured poetry readings, conversations, and discussions around the works selected for this year’s poetry cycle, alongside other cultural and literary activities.
At the event, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, said platforms like the Book Party are critical to sustaining literature in Nigeria.
“The Book Party emphasises the importance of sustaining platforms that move literature beyond the page and into public consciousness,” she said.
She noted that The Nigeria Prize for Literature was established to recognise exceptional writing and to strengthen Nigeria’s culture of reading, critical engagement and creative expression.
She added that this year’s focus on poetry celebrates a genre “capable of distilling complex truths into powerful language, connecting the personal with the universal and giving voice to experiences that might otherwise remain unheard.”
The 11 longlisted works, she said, were selected by the panel of judges for the 2026 edition of the Prize from 223 entries received.
She also said call for entries was announced in February and submissions for the poetry cycle have since closed.
“The 2026 Poetry cycle attracted 223 entries, each offering a distinct rhythm, perspective and artistic expression. Together, these submissions attest to the vitality of Nigerian poetry and to the confidence Nigerian writers continue to place in the NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature,” she added.
Speaking, CORA Secretary-General, Mr. Toyin Akinosho, said the Book Party was designed to create exactly this kind of public literary encounter, where books are not merely announced, but read, discussed, challenged, and appreciated.
He stated that the Book Party remains an intervention in Nigeria’s literary space because it gives visibility to authors and encourages direct engagement between writers and readers.
Akinosho acknowledged NLNG’s sustained investment in the country’s literary and reading culture.
“We are here because a profitable Nigerian gas company decided that a way to spend some share of its profit is to enable the Nigerian reading space. I’d like to thank NLNG for continuing to support this yearly afternoon of book conversation and the celebration of this country’s finest authors.”
Akinosho emphasised the distinctive place of the CORA–NPL Book Party in the literary prize process.
He said: “I don’t know of any literary prize process in which the final award is prefaced by a celebratory event of this nature, at which the authors face a community of readers in a room and talk about why and how they wrote what they are offering.”
The Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by NLNG, rotates annually among four genres: Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Children’s Literature.
The 2026 edition is dedicated to Poetry, with the winner expected to be announced in October.
The CORA Book Party forms part of the activities leading to the final announcement, providing a public platform for engagement with the longlisted works and their authors.
