Praise Ukpai reflects…

“Winning the Tom Grass Spirit of Adventure Literary Prize last year was, for me, a quiet affirmation — a moment that said, yes, your voice matters. The prize opened several doors but it also deepened responsibility. Since then, I’ve learned that writing, at its core, is an act of courage; the courage to tell the truth as you see it, even when it shakes what you once believed about yourself or the world.

Co-founding Africa Writers Connect (AWC) taught me the same lesson on a larger scale: that a movement is not a manifesto but a series of intimate, relentless conversations. 

I now measure success by how many other voices feel safer to speak. Practically, that has meant mentoring, hosting workshops that treat craft as an act of courage, and urging small publishers to take bold chances on unconventional stories.

Our work at the AWC is simple: keep asking, keep listening, and keep building rooms where stories from Africa are not only told, but believed. It’s where we remind each other that our stories are not too small, too local, or too different to matter. If anything, they are the pulse of who we are — and who we are becoming.”