Kenyan Richard Odour Oduku, is among ten shortlisted candidates to compete in the fifth annual Brunel International African Poetry Prize, after impressively beating it out against 1200 applicants. The event attracts a major annual poetry prize of £3000, aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa. The prize is sponsored by Brunel University London and Commonwealth Writers, which is open to African poets worldwide who have not yet published a full poetry collection.
Among a long line of achievements, Oduku has studied Biomedical Science and Technology and works as a research consultant in Nairobi. His works have been publicized majorly, one in particular, a story called ‘eNGAGEMENT’ published in the JaladaAfrofutures anthology, was long listed for the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards 2015.
He is also a Nonfiction Editor at Panorama, The Journal for Intelligent Travel. As well as a founding member of Jalada Africa and a Co-Curator and Festival Coordinator for the Jalada Mobile Literary and Art Festival, currently operating in five countries throughout East Africa.
The winners will be announced on May 2nd 2017. If Oduku manages to take home the prize money, he would be the second Kenyan to do so after Warsan Shire, a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer raised in London, UK, who won the very first prize during the 2013 edition.