18 Year-Old Longlisted For Award In Literature
The Golden Baobab Prizes for African Children’s literature, set up to celebrate and inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories, have announced the 2013 prize long list. The youngest person included in the list is the boy born in Nigeria.
Fego Martins Ahia (Ogenefego Ahia) is not only the youngest on the long list, but also the only Nigerian in his category (The Golden Baobab prize for rising writers).
Born in 1995 in Lagos, he comes from a humble background of disciplined parents whose encouragement has helped him develop a passion for excellence. His father's small library ignited the boy's imagination. He attributed this to why he started writing at a very early age.
Now Fego is a first year student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA.
The Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers, destined for talented young writers below 18, longlisted Fego for his story titled “The little secret”. It's about Kamila, a little girl from East Kenema who is curious about her father’s friend, Pa Camara, and goes to many lengths to figure out his little secret.
Reacting to his nomination, Fego exclaims excitedly,
“I feel deeply honored and humbled to have made the long list of this year’s Golden Baobab Prizes.
This is indeed a big dream come true as it was such an illuminating experience writing a children’s story that spoke to my roots in gentle whispers. Thank God for Golden Baobab.”
Apart from his recent achievement of being longlisted for the Golden Baobab Prizes, this passion saw to it that Fego was shortlisted twice for the Litro/IGGY International Short Story Award, receiving a bronze essay award from the Royal Commonwealth Society as well as winning the inaugural Ugreen Foundation Short Story Prize.
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