Senegalese novelist Boubacar Boris Diop and Ghanaian-American poet Kwame Dawes are among the ten finalists announced for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature for their works Murambi: The Book of Bones and Prophets, respectively.

With a cash award of $50,000, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature is awarded in honor of an author’s body of work and sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its publication, World Literature Today. Past winners include Gabriel García Márquez and Edwidge Danticat. As stated on the website, “The Neustadt Prize is the first international literary award of this scope to originate in the United States and is one of the very few international prizes for which poets, novelists, screenwriters and playwrights are equally eligible.”

Awarded since 2003, the prize is reputed to be a “lead up” to the Nobel Prize with many of its winners going on shortly to win the latter.

In addition to the cash prize, winners of the Neustadt Award receive a silver replica of an eagle feather, a prize certificate and a festival hosted in their honor.

The jurors will convene at the 2021 Neustadt Lit Fest, scheduled for Oct. 25–27 to select a winner. The winning announcement will be made on Tuesday, October 6.

Congratulations to Boubacar Diop and Kwame Dawes! We are rooting for them.