We are pleased to announce Adesuwa Agbonile and Felix Eshiet as the winners of the 2025 Brigitte Poirson Literature Prize (BPLP). Their emergence followed a highly competitive selection process that evaluated outstanding poetry and short fiction submissions from across Africa and the diaspora.
Now in its 10th year, the BPLP continues to affirm its commitment to recognising literary excellence, nurturing emerging voices, and supporting writers whose work engages boldly with craft, imagination, and social consciousness.
Winners and Runners-Up
Short Story Category
- Winner: An Ehi Speaks by Adesuwa Agbonile
- 1st Runner-Up: A Dark Quinquennial by Ibrahim Oga
- 2nd Runner-Up: The Weight of Our Steps by Christian Emecheta
Poetry Category
- Winner: The Thin Line Between a Heartbeat & the Fragile Hands of Machines by Felix Eshiet
- 1st Runner-Up: What the Earth Told Me in Silence by Nathan Felix
- Joint 2nd Runners-Up:
- The Tailor’s Gospel by Akindutire, Elizabeth Abosede
- Field Notes on Birth & Oblivion by Blessing Omeiza Ojo
The judges praised the winning and shortlisted works for their artistic depth, technical quality, and emotional resonance, noting the remarkable range of voices and themes.
Winners’ Biographies
FELIX ESHIET (Poetry Prize Winner): Felix Eshiet is a Nigerian writer and Efik-Ibibio poet. He is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, with work published in Chestnut Review, ONLY POEMS, Madrid Review, Porter House, African Writer Magazine, 20.35 Africa, and elsewhere. An Obsidian Foundation Fellow, Felix is the Editor-in-Chief of Ekondo Review, a literary magazine dedicated to Efik-Ibibio arts and literature. His debut poetry chapbook, Never Look a God in the Eye, is forthcoming in 2026.
ADESUWA AGBONILE (Short Story Prize Winner): Adesuwa Agbonile is a Nigerian-American writer, journalist, and audio producer. She is a Goldwater Fellow at New York University’s MFA program and the creator and host of the Audible Original podcast Backlash: The Myth of Political Progress. Her fiction has appeared in Pleiades, Hobart Online, and The Loveliest Review. Across genres, her work seeks to challenge dominant conceptions of reality and imagine new ways of thinking and being.
Prizes
Each category winner receives $200 (or its equivalent in naira).
In addition, the 2025 edition introduces special cash prizes for runners-up in both categories. Each runner-up receives $40, with writers in joint positions sharing the award.
These prizes are made possible through the generosity of Gloria Ogo, winner of the BPLP 2024 Short Story Prize, who donated her cash award to support future writers. The organisers remain deeply grateful for this gesture.
BPLP 2025 Anthology: KALEIDOSCOPE III
All the shortlisted works, alongside selected longlisted poems and short stories, are published in the BPLP 2025 Anthology, KALEIDOSCOPE III.
The poems included are:
- The Thin Line Between a Heartbeat & the Fragile Hands of Machines by Felix Eshiet
- What the Earth Told Me in Silence by Nathan Felix
- The Tailor’s Gospel by Akindutire, Elizabeth Abosede
- Field Notes on Birth & Oblivion by Blessing Omeiza Ojo
- Post-Apocalypse by Pacella Chukwuma-Eke
- The Bulbul & the Geometry of Dawn by Abubakar Ibrahim
- Meet Me at the Park by Joy Nwamaka Chime
- The Hands That Painted the Sky by Olukitibi Elizabeth Atilola
- How Do I Glorify My Country When It Runs the Faces of Razor Blades on My Skin? by Godwin Obaji
- The River Swallows the Open Ground by Adamu Danjuma Abubakar
- Innocence by Grace Ezinne Ajunwa
- This Is Not Just a Country by Segun Adesoro
- Zhinyim (Stay for Me) by Izaza Izeowayi
- The Song of Nature by Iyanuoluwa Oni
- I Want to Run Away from My Country by Michael Agunbiade
- Soul on the Edge by Ruth Dipura
- The Deep of Relativity by Oladimeji Adam Adedayo
- Mother in the Mirror by Halimah Adisa
- The Rainmaker’s Daughter by Oladoyin Ayodeji Victor
The short stories included are:
- An Ehi Speaks by Adesuwa Agbonile
- A Dark Quinquennial by Ibrahim Oga
- The Weight of Our Steps by Christian Emecheta
- CTRL Z by Ikechukwu Henry
- Hostage Song by Daniel Echezona
- Feed Us Your Heart by Jane Udochi
- The Gods Are Wise by John Ebut
- The Season of Migration to the North by Daniel Yohanna
- Woman by Abdulrahman M. Abu-Yaman
- (In/Re)Surrection by Chimezie Okoro.
Download a free copy of the anthology below:
Comment from the Patron
The turn of 2026 is a time for praise and gratitude.
The quality of the poems and stories submitted to this BPLP has been exceptional. Short in pages, but grand in literature! The contributors have upped the ante as never before, ready to outshine the most proficient writers. Claiming the winners come first among equals is not far-fetched.
We owe a special tribute to Gloria Ogo for offering her prize to reward the runners-up of this year’s edition. A much-appreciated act of generosity!
The judges deserve special applause, too, for constantly devoting so much of their precious time to bringing the process to completion at a particularly complicated moment of the year.
Submissions for the 2026 edition will open in October 2026. The exact dates and submission guidelines will be announced in due course.
Once again, congratulations to all winners, shortlisted, and longlisted writers.
