Lunaris, publishers of the Lunaris Review, have announced that Divine Inyang Titus is the 2024 Toyin Falola Prize winner. Divine Inyang Titus won for his work Fibers from the Deep.
Fibers from the Deep emerged from a shortlist of nine. The writers tackled the theme of Sacred.
The Toyin Falola Prize, now in its fourth year, honours the distinguished African scholar and historian Professor Toyin Falola for his endeavours and contribution to advancing the richness of African culture, people, myth, history, advancement, and modernity.
The Lunaris statement read: We are excited to announce that “Fibers from the Deep” by Divine Inyang Titus is the 2024 Toyin Falola Prize winner! Divine becomes the second Nigerian to win this prestigious prize after Abdulrahim Hussani (2022).
His narrative introduces us to Ikem, a deeply conflicted protagonist navigating existential dilemmas, family turmoil, trauma, detachment, loss, and spiritual crises—particularly following the death of his brother and the breakdown of his family.
When we called for submissions under the sacred theme, we sought broad and bold interpretations and an aesthetic finesse that could elevate those interpretations. Divine’s profound and introspective journey with Ikem achieves precisely this. Like Ikem, readers are left pondering the powerful question, “What else is sacred in this world if not this love, this life?”
Our judges describe it as “a compelling exploration of the tension between cultural heritage and modern identity. Its narrative skillfully balances humour, spiritual conflict, tragedy, and existential questioning. The power of the story lies in its raw authenticity and ability to evoke empathy and introspection, making it a deserving winner in this contest.”
“Fibers from the Deep” brilliantly resonates with broader societal issues, including the lingering impact of violence, poverty, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. The story invites us to confront the existential questions that shape our identities and challenge our beliefs, making it a truly exceptional work.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Divine Inyang Titus for this remarkable achievement and to all the participants for their creativity and enthusiasm. With over 300 submissions from across the continent and the diaspora, we are very grateful to our dedicated readers and esteemed judges, Professor Gilbert Ndi-Shang and Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto, for their unwavering effort and support.
Now in its 4th year, the Toyin Falola Prize continues to celebrate African writers who challenge, inspire, and push the boundaries of storytelling. We look forward to showcasing more exceptional stories from talented voices across the continent.”
Divine Inyang Titus is an assistant editor at Afapinen and the author of the chapbook A Beautiful Place To Be Born. He is a joint winner of the 2023 Brigitte Poirson Literature Prize for Fiction and a past winner of the STCW Future Folklore Climate Fiction Contest, 2021. His stories and poems have been featured in Brittle Paper, The Ex-Puritan Magazine, Blue Marble Review, The Parliament Literary Journal, The Shallow Tales Review, and elsewhere.
The Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah Wins $500000 Kluge Humanities Prize
The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah is this year’s winner of the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, a $500,000 prize awarded by the Library of Congress recognising work in disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prizes.
Appiah, a professor of philosophy and law at New York University, is the author of over a dozen books and is known for his scholarly contributions to philosophy related to ethics, language, nationality, and race. His books include “In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture” (1992) and “The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen” (2010).
He is also “The Ethicist,” the columnist for The New York Times Magazine who responds to reader-submitted moral dilemmas and interpersonal arguments with ethical frameworks. Recent columns have responded to a reader who wrote a novel inspired by an unfaithful friend and another who wanted straight women to stop calling their friends “girlfriends.”
In a statement, Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress, called Appiah’s philosophical work “elegant, groundbreaking and highly respected.” Timothy Frye, a Columbia University professor and a Library’s Scholars Council member, praised Appiah’s “moving effortlessly” between academic and public discourse on subjects including privilege and power.
“His academic work is rooted in philosophy, but the range of topics that he has addressed in his research and public writing is astonishing,” Frye said.
Appiah, 70, said in an interview that the variety was thanks to figures like his longtime friend and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., as well as the British philosopher Dorothy Emmet, who encouraged him to apply his analytic philosophy to whatever interested him.
“Being trained in philosophy has helped me to answer these questions, but they’re not philosophers’ questions,” he said. “They’re questions anybody might have when thinking about their lives.”
The Kluge Prize, given to scholars whose scholarship impacts inside and outside academia, has recently been awarded to political theorist Danielle Allen and historians George Chauncey and Drew Gilpin Faust.
In addition to the monetary award, the library will develop programming on the “Thinking Together” theme to display Appiah’s work for the public.
Culled from The New York Times.
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