Lagos-based lawyer and writer Ooreoluwa O. Agbede has won the 2026 Quramo Writers’ Prize for his unpublished manuscript, Four Months. The announcement was made on Friday, October 2, at the Quramo Festival of Words (QFest) in Lagos, as reported by Writing Africa.

To mark the prize’s tenth year, the award has doubled from ₦1,000,000 to ₦2,000,000. Agbede also receives a publishing deal with Quramo Publishing, which holds the right of first refusal on his second book.

Four Months is structured in five movements and follows a man whose life fractures across Lagos, Abeokuta, and the intimate spaces of family, memory, and work after he is diagnosed with brain cancer and told he has four months to live.

Agbede is no stranger to the prize. He was longlisted in 2022, and this win comes four years later. His writing explores Nigerian life, grief, identity, and the textures of human relationships. He has also contributed commentaries to national newspapers including The Nation, The Sun, PM News, and The Independent. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar after attending the Nigerian Law School. In his remarks after the win, he thanked the judges and his fellow shortlistees, telling them, “I want to see everybody at the top.”

The Quramo Writers’ Prize is an annual award for an unpublished fiction manuscript by an emerging writer from the African continent. It was founded by Quramo Publishing, a Nigeria-based company, to encourage a new community of talented writers and give otherwise unexposed talent a shot at publishing recognition. This year’s jury was made up of Tahirah Sagayah, Sunday Okoh, and Ugonma Nduka-Nwosu, who served as lead judge. From a large pool of entries, they selected a twenty-writer longlist on September 5 and a shortlist on September 21. Nduka-Nwosu praised the standard of the entries, which spanned romance, cultural, and human-interest themes, and commended the writers for their ability to observe, conceptualize, and use language to take readers to unexpected places.

Two other writers placed on the podium: Nigerian Jenny Kingsley Emem took second place with The Glass Between Us, and Zimbabwean John Tantswanashe Banda placed third with Kuroya.

QFest Convener Gbemi Shasore explained that the festival’s platform for unpublished writers is central to its mission, noting that organizers often return to the longlist and shortlist in search of stories to publish.

Agbede joins a lineage of winners that includes Samuel Monye (2017), Michael Emmanuel (2018), Vivian Onyekachi Ibe (2019), Kadiri Alex (2020), Akinnimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun (2021), Ibrahim Babatunde Ibrahim (2022), Chiziterem Chijioke (2023), Arthur Gabriel Yak (2024), and Hubaidat Oyinkansola Ishola (2025).

Congratulations, Ooreoluwa!