Nigerian poet and essayist Gbenga Adesina has been longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry for his debut collection Death Does Not End at the Sea, published by the University of Nebraska Press.

Adesina, who is the inaugural Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Black Global and Diasporic Poetry at the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, represents African literary excellence among the ten poets selected for this year’s longlist. The longlisting places him in competition for one of the most coveted awards in American literature.

Adesina’s debut book of poems, an exploration of exile, voyages, and spiritual odysseys, won the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry before its National Book Award recognition, establishing Adesina as a significant new voice in contemporary American poetry.

The National Book Awards was established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in the United States. A panel of judges selects a Longlist of ten titles per category, which is then narrowed to five Finalists, and a Winner is announced at the Awards Ceremony in the fall. Each Finalist receives a prize of $1,000, a medal, and a Judges’ citation. Winners receive $10,000 and a bronze sculpture. The Awards Ceremony is one of the most anticipated events for writers, publishers, and readers eager to celebrate the best books of the year.

The 2025 National Book Award finalists (shortlist) will be announced in October, with the winners announced at the National Book Awards Ceremony in November. Congratulations to Gbenga Adesina for this remarkable achievement in representing contemporary African poetry on one of America’s most prestigious literary stages!