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Nigerian literature is the literature of Nigeria which is written by Nigerians, for Nigerians and addresses Nigerian issues. It is written in English, Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, Hausa, and the other languages of the country. The languages used by authors in Nigeria are based in part on geography, with authors in the northern part of the country writing in Hausa. Nigerian authors have won numerous accolades, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Man Booker.
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Northern Nigerian Written Literature
Northern Nigerian written literature can be divided into 4 main periods, The first is the 14 kingdoms(10th-19th century), and the second is the Sokoto period(19th-20th century), the 3rd is the Colonial period(20th century), and the 4th is post independence period(20th century to present).
The Fourteen Kingdoms
This period had many Authors who produced many books that dealt with Theology, History, Biography, Maths, Language, Writing, Documentaries, Geography, Astronomy, Diplomacy, and Poetry.
Some of the Known Authors and some of their works
Notable writers
Nigeria has produced a number of important writers, who have won accolades for their work, including Daniel O. Fagunwa, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Elechi Amadi, Tanure Ojaide and Ben Okri. Soyinka, a Yoruba native speaker writing mainly in English, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, becoming the first African Literature Nobel Prize winner.
Other significant writers, of a younger generation, include Chris Abani, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yemisi Aribisala, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Helen Oyeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Chika Unigwe, Igoni Barrett, Ogaga Ifowodo, and Teju Cole. Some, including Ifowodo, Cole and Adichie, are based in the West.
Accolades
Wole Soyinka was the first black African to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Previously, Claude Simon and Albert Camus, born in French Madagascar and French-held Algeria, respectively, had won the prize. Soyinka was awarded the prize as he "...in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence".
Chinua Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International prize in recognition of his entire career as a novelist and author in 2007. Other finalists for the prize included Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. In awarding the prize, Nadine Gordimer referred to Achebe as "the father of modern African literature".
A list of "100 Most Influential Nigerian Writers Under 40 (Year 2016)" was published on 28 December 2016 on the Nigerian Writers Awards website.