Dexter Loko wins the Chinua Achebe Prize with a Nigerian fantasy
The Bako of Zereshé takes the Association of Nigerian Authors award at its Abuja convention.
Nigerian-Irish writer Dexter Loko has won the 2026 Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature with The Bako of Zereshé. The result was announced in Abuja on 31 October during the Association of Nigerian Authors’ 45th international convention. Published by GrandTouch Press, the novel prevailed over finalists No Place Like Home by Henry Akubuiro and Chikoba by Onyedikachi Uzozie Nmezi. It combines epic fantasy, Nigerian history and mythology around a British journalist who discovers Zereshé, an imaginary thirty-seventh state where magic is part of daily life. The prize, dedicated to Nigerian fiction, awards the winner one million naira. Its choice highlights a mode of fantasy that does not escape national history, but recasts it through magic, political conflict and adventure.