On Monday, October 10, 2011 at a world press conference held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria, Mai Nasara, was declared the winner of the 2011 Nigerian Prize for Literature.
According to the judges, “After an exhaustive discussion of each of the three finalists, Eno’s Story by Ayodele Olofintuade, Chinyere Obi-Obasi’s The Great Fall and The Missing Clock by Mai Nasara, we decided that The Missing Clock by Mai Nasara is the winner.” Earlier on September 6, the Advisory Board for the prize, headed by Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, had approved and announced to the literary community a final shortlist of three books out of the initial shortlist of six.
The six works made the final cut from the 126 books submitted for the 2011 edition awarded for children's literature.
Mai Nasara is the pen name of Adeleke Adeyemi, a journalist and science communicator with interests as varied as girl-child education, television/film, tennis, poetry, biking, bird-watching, languages, and leadership studies.
Based on his belief that “the stories people tell have a way of taking care of them” (Barry L. Lopez), he is at work to set up a network of children’s libraries across Africa, starting from his native Nigeria.
Set to come after his critically acclaimed first children’s book, “The Missing Clock”, winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature 2011, is another Reversal-Of-Fortune (ROF) story titled “Danfo Boy”. On his inclination to writing children's books, he says “It boils down to a desire to draw attention to the difference children can make. And thus make a difference for the child. Children have an astounding problem-solving slant in their thinking that adults have been taking for granted and thus untapped. I’ve been involved in their lives in various capacities: Sunday school, summer school literary/environmental awareness campaigns, etc.”
Maddened by the toll it takes on children, ‘Leke, as he is also fondly known, is active in the anti-malaria media campaign in Africa; from Nigeria to Ghana and Tanzania, with articles in specialised journals like “Eyes on Malaria” (Ghana); he has also written and produced songs in aid of the fight against malaria, like “One Little Mosquito” and “To Keep Malaria On the Run, Keep Our Gutters Running”.
He was one of a select crop of young journalists from Africa sponsored by the department for International development (DfID) of the British Government to Kenya, in 2009, for “Better Science Reporting” Workshop, after an earlier one at the International Institute of Agricultural Research (IITA) Ibadan. He came back from Kenya to set up Science Café Nigeria, which organised the 2010 AMMREN World Malaria Day Forum in Lagos.
For his 40th birthday (October 31, 2011), he plans to plant 40 trees in every town, from his childhood Katsina, to Akure, Ife, Owo, Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Jos and Lagos, every place he has lived in up to 40 days, over the course of his life till date – as a way of offsetting (i.e. erasing) his carbon footprint!
Mai Nasara has been a staff and editorial writer with Timeless since 2006 and a copy editor with Next Newspaper since early 2011. He was educated at Government College, Katsina, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he earned his first degree in Geology. He is married to Wosilat Abolore. They have a daughter, Semiloré.
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