“Monologue of Fire” by Samuel Ugbechie wins the 2019 MVP Poetry Prize

Nigerian poet, Samuel Ugbechie was recently announced to have won the 2019 Many Voices Project Poetry Prize, with his manuscript, “Monologue of Fire”.

The MVP Prize is organised by the New Rivers Press. It awards winners in each category (poetry and prose) a $1,000 honorarium, a standard book contract and fifteen complimentary copies of the final book.

Samuel Ugbechie who also writes prose in reaction to the win said in part, “I didn’t see this coming. I thank the organizers and judges for selecting my manuscript. I can now give more energy to prose.”

Samuel Ugbechie is a writer who builds apps and plays basketball. He has works published or forthcoming in Ruminate Magazine, Palette Poetry, Aurora Poetry, Nottingham Review. He recently won the 2020 Aurora Poetry Winter Contest, and his works have been recognized in awards like the Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, Frederick Holland Poetry Collection Award, Into the Void Poetry Prize, and others. He tweets @sugbechie.

As a result of his win, his manuscript “Monologue of Fire” will be out in 2021.