The Sprinng Women Authors Prize - 2022
We congratulate Bina Idonije, Author of Bridges Are For Burning, and Muti'ah Badruddeen, Author of Rekiya & Z, on winning the 2022 Sprinng Women Authors Prize. We also congratulate Ayomide Fasedu, author of The Ashes Have Their Own Stories, on being the judges' Notable Mention.
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Winner of SWAP 2022
Bina Idonije is the author of "Bridges Are for Burning,” her debut novel, published in 2022 by Masobe Books. Although Bridges Are for Burning is her first published work, Bina has always found herself drawn to writing from a young age. Her early literary influences include Enid Blyton and Buchi Emecheta. If you ask her what sorts of books she prefers, she would answer broadly and say fiction over non-fiction any day. If you asked her to narrow that down, she would say she doesn't have a favorite book or a favorite author and considers herself an eclectic reader, feeling as at home with thrillers as she does with romance. However, here's a brief mention of some memorable books she has read: Plum Island by Nelson DeMille, All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, and A broken People's playlist by Chimeka Garricks. In terms of Nigerian authors, she particularly favors Chimeka Garricks, Abubakar Ibrahim, TJ Benson, and of course, the illustrious Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Bina is a qualified lawyer and likes to think of herself as a lawyer by day and a writer by night (and weekends!). She is currently working on her second novel and hoping to explore the murder-mystery genre this time around (when eventually she defeats the writer's block she is currently dealing with... one of them has to win this fight, and she knows it's not going to be the disembodied, inanimate writer's block!).
Besides reading and writing, which jointly are her favorite things to do, she enjoys traveling, watching British television drama series, trying out new restaurants, and hosting friends for drinks at her home. Did I mention she is married with children? Oh, she is. A husband, two teenagers, and one pre-teen, and they reside in the chaotic coastal city of Lagos.
Winner of SWAP 2022
Muti’ah Badruddeen is a Nigerian reproductive health physician and homeschooling mum. She writes contemporary fiction that centers Nigerian women at the intersection of faith, women’s rights, and reproductive and mental health. Usually told from the framework of her cultural identity as a visibly Muslim African woman, these themes are Muti'ah's greatest passions. They recur in her work in varying combinations, representing her effort to tell meaningful, everyday stories of these women living their lives the best way they know how. A lifelong bibliophile, she knows too well how absent stories of people occupying that intersection are from the dominant literary spaces of African and Muslim cultures.
Also, acutely conscious of her pure sciences academic background, Muti’ah attends several writing courses yearly to appease impostor syndrome, the latest being Curtis Brown Creative’s Novel Writing Course for Writers of Colour. She is still trying to find the guts, time, and funds to commit to an MFA. Counting the Scottish-Sudanese Leila Aboulela (and her masterful delivery of Muslim women’s inner world and subjective spirituality) as her greatest literary inspiration, Nigerian writers whose works have influenced Muti’ah the most are Flora Nwapa (for the unapologetically feminist leanings), Amos Tutuola (for the richness of Yoruba tradition and mythology) and the great Chinua Achebe (for the unparalleled descriptiveness of pre-colonial ambiance).
When she is not writing, reading, doctoring, or mothering, Muti’ah favourite pastime is trying to catch up on years of sleep lost to all of the above.
Notable Mention SWAP 2022
Ayomide Fasedu is a prolific writer and spoken word poet with academic training in law who writes to connect to herself out of a belief that there's no way more beautiful to understand a thing than to make poetry out of it. She was born and raised in Lagos, and writing and performing poetry have been able to neatly pack her life into boxes. She was a finalist at The Lagos International Poetry Festival in 2021, Askifa literary slam in 2019. She emerged winner at the Wordaholics poetry slam in 2018, the best performer at Terra Kulture in 2018, and the Best Essayist at the Saint Titus initiative in 2017. She also performed at the Fan Vanilla Campus Tour.
Her writing is centered around women and identity. She draws her inspiration from love and chaos, everything between fairytales and harsh realities. Titilope Sonuga, Kayo Chigonyi, Iquo Diana Abasi, and Rupi Kaur are some of the names that inform her craft. She engages with various themes ranging from love, heartbreak, trauma, loss, healing, femininity, and Nigerianism. Through her bare and honest language, she writes poems that push self-love further into spaces it hasn’t yet permeated, like secondary schools, spaces with teenage girls, and most recently, through her book dedicated to the generality of women.
When she is not writing or performing poetry, she makes frozen yogurt in her kitchen or creates amazing music. Recently, she was featured on the most recent Black Magic album titled, ‘The Invitation.’
The 2022 SWAP Judges
We are thankful to the SWAP 2022 judges: Adeola Opeyemi, Angel Nduka-Nwosu, Mofiyinfoluwa Okupe, and Tomilola Coco Adeyemo for their commitment and hard work in selecting the notable mention and winners of the 2022 Sprinng Women Authors Prize.
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Angel Nduka-Nwosu
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Adeola Opeyemi
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Mofiyinfoluwa Okupe
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Tomilola Coco Adeyemo