Nigerian poet and essayist Gbenga Adesina has earned international recognition after winning the Poetry category of the 2026 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA) for his debut collection, Death Does Not End at the Sea.
The award-winning work explores migration, memory, loss and the enduring hope that drives people toward new beginnings. In recognising the collection, the AWBA jury singled out its title poem, describing it as a powerful reflection on the physical and spiritual journeys undertaken by people fleeing troubled lands in search of better lives.
“At the heart of Gbenga Adesina’s haunting, elegiac collection is the stunning titular poem, ‘Death Does Not End at the Sea,’ a meditation on the difficult journeys, both spiritual and physical, undertaken by migrants, people fleeing troubled lands, with the hope of new lives.”
The latest honour adds to the growing acclaim surrounding the collection, which previously won the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.
Adesina received his MFA from New York University, where he was a Goldwater Fellow and studied under acclaimed poet Yusef Komunyakaa. His writing has appeared in a range of respected publications, including The New York Times, The Yale Review, Prairie Schooner and the Harvard Review.
Founded in 1935 by Cleveland philanthropist and poet Edith Anisfield Wolf in honour of her husband, Eugene Wolf, and her father, John Anisfield, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognise books that advance understanding of racism and celebrate the richness of human diversity. The awards remain the only American literary prize dedicated specifically to those themes.
This year's winners were selected by a jury chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey. The 2026 edition also marks a notable period in the award's history, following a significant increase in prize money that has further strengthened its standing among the United States' leading literary honours.
Reflecting on the selection process, Trethewey noted that every winner this year is a debut author.
“It is never easy to choose a single work in each genre from so many excellent books published each year. That each of this year’s winners is a debut makes the honour all the more profound new voices, already essential. These books matter because they deepen our understanding, enlarge our empathy, and remind us of literature’s power to illuminate who we are.”
Over the decades, Anisfield-Wolf-winning books have examined human-rights violations, chronicled the search for justice, explored the experiences of biracial communities, highlighted the effects of racism on children and celebrated cultures from across the globe. Adesina's Death Does Not End at the Sea now takes its place within that tradition, bringing its own poignant perspective on displacement and human resilience.
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