By Iminza Keboge
Published June 2, 2019

Jamila Osman is a poet of allegorical beauty and someone for whom we should all be delighted to read more of in the futureAn Egyptian and a Somali have won the 7th annual Brunei International African Poetry Prize.

Nadra Mabrouk of Egypt and Jamila Osman of Somalia beat more than 1000 contestants to the prize that is open to African poets worldwide who have not yet published a full poetry collection.

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Sponsored by Brunel University London, the Brunei International African Poetry Prize that was founded by Bernardine Evaristo in 2012, comes with a £3000 cash prize whose aims are to develop, celebrate and promote poetry from Africa.

“In the work of Nadra Mabrouk lines fold into lines and teach us the alchemy of presence and history. Hers is a poetry often seeking the subtle moments that thread our humanity together through a celebration of the lucid and quotidian. Mabrouk’s ability to make music in celebration of the pure joys of language is a restorative salve in contemporary poetry. Hers is a voice that will pull the reader into and outside of themselves,” The jury–comprising poets and academics Matthew Shenoda, Leila Chatti, and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers–said.

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In the work of Nadra Mabrouk lines fold into lines and teach us the alchemy of presence and history.Saying “Jamila Osman is a poet of allegorical beauty and someone for whom we should all be delighted to read more of in the future,” the judges said “In Jamila Osman’s poetry the reader is introduced to a poet whose cadence and craft come together like the fine edge of a knife. Osman’s detailed view of memory both personal and collective create a space for poems that are dipped in diasporic ink and carry a trajectory forever rooted in her home country of Somalia.”

The poets who had been shortlisted for the Brunei International African Poetry Prize 2019 included Afua Ansong (Ghana), Mary-Alice Daniel (Nigeria), Inua Ellams (Nigeria), K Eltinae (Nubian Sudan), Omotara James (Nigeria), Nadra Mabrouk (Egypt), Selina Nwulu (Nigeria), Emmanuel Oppong (Ghana), Jamila Osman (Somalia), and Sherry Shenoda (Egypt).

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Bernardine Evaristo, founder of Brunei International African Poetry Prize, is an award-winning British Nigerian author, is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature.“The future looks very bright and African poetry is a global force staking its claim and producing some of the most exciting writing to be found anywhere,” Bernardine Evaristo, the founder of the Brunei International African Poetry Prize, noted, “When I started the prize in 2012, African poetry was almost invisible on the international literary landscape. Today there are legions of poets building careers and being heard.”

Evaristo, an award-winning British Nigerian author, is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature.

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Past winners of the Brunei International African Poetry Prize that is supported by the African Poetry Book Fund include Safia Elhillo of Sudan, Theresa Lola (British Nigerian), Momtaza Mehri (Somali British), Nick Makoha (Ugandan), Romeo Oriogun (Nigerian) and Warsan Shire (British of Kenyan origin).