The finalists for the 2026 Walcott Prize are out! Two Nigerian poets have made the finalist list for the 2026 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, awarded annually by Arrowsmith Press in partnership with the Derek Walcott Estate and the Derek Walcott Festival in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Tolu Oloruntoba earns a nod for Unravel (McClelland & Stewart), while Othuke Umukoro is recognized for Fenestration, published jointly by TRP: The University Press of SHSU and Nigeria’s own Masobe Books.

The two poets were selected from submissions by non-US citizens published anywhere in the world, representing a strong showing for contemporary Nigerian poetry on the international stage. The prize, offered annually for a book of poetry by a non-US citizen, carries a $2,000 honorarium. This year’s winner will be announced in the coming months, with poet and translator Rosanna Warren serving as judge.

Tolu Oloruntoba’s shortlisted work Unravel, continues the searching, formally restless voice that has defined his career since his 2021 debut The Junta of Happenstance won the Griffin Poetry Prize. Oloruntoba, a physician by training who moved from Nigeria to Canada, has built a body of work that moves fluidly between the clinical and the lyrical, often interrogating the body, migration, and the long aftershocks of displacement, themes that echo Walcott’s own lifelong preoccupation with movement between worlds and the search for home across borders.

Othuke Umukoro’s Fenestration, marks a notable achievement for a poet building his reputation through both Nigerian and international presses. The collection takes its title from the architectural term for windows and openings, using that image to explore what it means to look out, to be seen, and to let light or history pass through a life. Umukoro’s work joins the shortlist as part of a growing wave of Nigerian poets finding co-publication across African and international presses.

This year’s shortlist also includes established names in world poetry such as Mona Arshi, Lorna Goodison, Evan Jones, Esther Lin, Bernard O’Donoghue, and Tom Paulin, placing Oloruntoba and Umukoro’s work in serious international company. The prize has a strong recent history with Nigerian poets: Saddiq Dzukogi won outright in 2021 for Your Crib, My Qibla, and Theresa Lola shared last year’s prize with Mary O’Malley.

This year’s win will mark another milestone in the Walcott Prize’s mission to celebrate international poetry that honors Derek Walcott’s extraordinary legacy of literary excellence and cultural bridge-building. The Walcott Prize has established itself as a significant platform for recognizing non-American poets whose work contributes to global literary conversations, much as Walcott himself did through his Nobel Prize-winning career that spanned continents and cultures. By featuring voices from across the world, the prize continues to fulfill its founding vision of celebrating poetry that transcends national boundaries while honoring local experiences and perspectives.

Congratulations to Tolu Oloruntoba, Othuke Umukoro, and all the shortlisted poets for this remarkable recognition of their contributions to contemporary world poetry!