The African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) promotes and advances the development and publication of the poetic arts through its book series, contests, workshops, and seminars and through its collaborations with publishers, festivals, booking agents, colleges, universities, conferences and all other entities that share an interest in the poetic arts of Africa.

The winner of APBF’s 2026 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets is Afia Ansong (Ghana/US) for her collection “I buried [her] in a field of lemongreass.” Ansong will receive a $1000 USD cash award and publication of their manuscript as part of the University of Nebraska Press’ African Poetry Book Series.

The judging panel for the Sillerman Prize consists of Chris Abani, Gabeba Baderoon, John Keene, Matthew Shenoda, Mahtem Shiferraw, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, and Helen Yitah, with Kwame Dawes, Director of the African Poetry Book Fund and Series Editor of the African Poetry Book Series.

Mahtem Shiferraw praised Ansong’s manuscript, saying “I love this manuscript for what it can do, the possibilities it can open with each poem, which go beyond the page.”

Afia Ansong is the author of three chapbooks: Black Ballad (Bull City Press, 2022), Try Kissing God (Akashic Books, 2020), and American Mercy (Finishing Line Press, 2019). Her writing has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Prairie Schooner, Four Way Review, Maine Review, and other journals. She is a recipient of the MaCall Johnson Fellowship, and the founder of The Adinkra Projects, which provides poetry workshops and supports emerging Ghanaian writers. She is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Rhode Island.

The judges are also pleased to name three finalists:

• “A Brief History of Seeds” by Wale Ayinla (Nigeria)
• “Cataclysm” by Abduljalal Musa Aliyu (Nigeria)
• “Eschatologies” by Chimezie Umeoka (Nigeria)

Ansong is the fourteenth poet to win the annual Sillerman Prize, following Jedidiah Mugarura in 2025 for Nyamuteza, Michael Immossan in 2024 for All that Refuses to Die, Abu Bakr Sadiq in 2023 for Leaked Footages, Tares Oburumu in 2022 for Origins of the Syma Species, and Sherry Shenoda in 2021 for Mummy Eaters.

The 2027 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets will be open September 15 through December 1 to submissions of manuscripts by African poets who have not yet published a full-length collection. For more information and to submit, click here.

---

This announcement was originally shared by the African Poetry Book Fund.