The 2025 Abebi Award in Afro-Nonfiction

Founder’s Notes:

In my commencement address given at The University of Iowa in the Spring of 2025, I wrote:

"The genre I write in, creative nonfiction, is one that demands a rigorous and unrelenting confrontation with the self."

It was from this place we asked for essays to respond to the theme of ‘witness’ this year; where we asked writers to look closely at the self, family, society, structures and powers that uphold our very lives. The essays selected for the 2025 Abebi Award in AfroNonfiction are bodies of work that have done the tender and thorough work of observation and distillation. With razor sharp precision and a certain bravery that eschews silence, these essays have investigated objectification, unearthed victory from tales of abuse, looked in the face of inheritances and chronicled the inevitable technology-powered evolution of the intricacy of human relationships. In every single one of these essays, the writer is a faithful witness, an equipped griot, and a custodian of urgent, necessary stories that do not deserve to be buried underneath the heavy garment of shame. I am proud to present these essays to you and I hope they move you the way they moved us.

This edition of the award would not be possible without the generous sponsorship of Selar: thank you for investing in the future of Nigerian literature. My deepest gratitude to our judges, Ucheoma Onwutuebe and Ope Adedeji, whose expert eyes helped us find these gems. I am most grateful to our team of Editorial Assistants, all proud Abebi Alumni who rallied round us to do the gargantuan task of reading through over 200 essays. Janobest Isaac, Rose Abba, Shalom Esene, Nana Hauwa Sule, Mariam Tijani, Azeeza Adeowu, Fatima Abdullahi and Shalom Esene, you have my many many thanks. We could not have done this without you. Thank you for giving back so richly to us, for building for others, alongside us.

Most people may not know this but for the past two years since our inception, I have done all the work by myself. This year, I was so blessed with a team of excellent volunteers who poured out so much of their brilliance and hard work into our operations–from graphic design, to administration, to social media and research; Uzoma, Chidinma, Ifeoluwa and Deborah, you are an incredible part of our story. Thank you so much for all that you do.

Immense gratitude to Ajoke Bodunde, our Secretary as well as Modupe Daramola, Iremide Arowolo and Morenike Okupe.

Every other month, there are arguments that Nigerian literature is dying or dead. I feel deep fulfillment in knowing that TAAF and so many like us are doing our own little bit in pumping blood into the literary ecosystem on the continent. As we enter into our fourth year of programming, we have so much in store. We invite you deeper into a world where women are empowered and equipped to tell important stories; a world where silence has no hold on us.

In solidiarity and possibility,

Mofiyinfoluwa O.