Two Nigerian female writers have been shortlisted for 2020 US National Magazine Awards for their respective short stories.
The writers are Ope Adedeji and ‘Pemi Aguda.
While Adedeji was shortlisted for “After the Birds,” which was published in McSweeneys Quarterly, Aguda was shortlisted for “24, Alhaji Williams Street,” published in Zoetrope.
Established in 1966, the award is annually presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) to recognise outstanding pieces in print and digital media.
Winners in various categories are billed to be announced in Brooklyn on March 12.
A native of Lagos state, Aguda has an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers Program at the University of Michigan, where she is currently a Fellow. Her writing has won a Henfield Prize, Hopwood Awards (for Novel, Short Fiction, Non-Fiction and Drama), and the 2015 Writivism Prize.
She attended Chimamanda Adichie’s Farafina Trust Workshop in 2011 and received a work-study scholarship from Bread Loaf Writers Conference in 2018 and an Octavia Butler Memorial Scholarship from the Carl Brandon Society to attend the Clarion Workshop in 2019, as well as a 2019 Juniper Summer Workshop scholarship. Her stories have appeared in Granta, Zoetrope: All-Story, American Short Fiction, and Lagos.
Adedeji dreams about bridging the gender equality gap and destroying the patriarchy. She is currently an editor with Zikoko magazine. Her work has appeared on Arts and Africa, Afreada, Catapult, and McSweeney’s Quarterly. An Artist Managers and Literary Activists fellow, she was shortlisted for the 2018 Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction. She is also an alumnus Purple Hibiscus Trust Creative Writing Workshop.
