Ishola Abdulwasiu Ayodele Wins the 2026 Iska Book Prize

This year’s prize brought together an exciting range of manuscripts from writers across Africa and the diaspora. We encountered stories that surprised us, challenged us, entertained us, and reminded us of the extraordinary breadth of African storytelling.

From a strong field of submissions and a compelling shortlist, A Conspiration of Guardian Demons ultimately stood out.

Ishola Abdulwasiu Ayodele is a creative writer, visual artist, and educator whose work moves across forms and genres.

He was a finalist for the 2023 Isele Magazine Short Story Prize and the winner of the 2022 Ibua Journal Continental Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in, or is forthcoming in, publications including Iskanchi, Brittle Paper, African Writer, Isele Magazine, and Omenana.

His work has also been featured in several notable anthologies, including The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction 2022, SpaceFunk, and Sauúti Terrors.

With A Conspiration of Guardian Demons, Ishola joins a growing community of writers whose work reflects the richness, experimentation, and imaginative possibilities of contemporary African literature.

The Iska Book Prize exists to celebrate exceptional literary voices and to support manuscripts that deserve to be brought to a wider readership.

This year, A Conspiration of Guardian Demons captured our attention and emerged as the manuscript that stood above the rest. We are excited to celebrate Ishola's achievement and look forward to the journey ahead for the manuscript.

Winning a book prize is only one part of a writer's journey, but it can be an important one. For us, the 2026 Iska Book Prize is an opportunity to recognise a writer whose work deserves to be read, discussed, and remembered. The award-winning book will be published in the fall of 2027.

We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to every writer who submitted a manuscript this year. Thank you for trusting Iska Press with your stories and for allowing us the privilege of reading your work.

Every submission brought us into a different world. Every writer contributed to the conversation about where African literature can go next.

One of the simplest ways to support writers is to read their work.

Buy their books. Share their stories. Recommend them to a friend. Post about a book you loved. Leave a review. Attend their readings and events. Follow their work and keep an eye out for what they publish next.

For writers, these seemingly small actions matter. A recommendation can introduce a book to a new reader. A review can help another person decide to pick it up. A purchase directly supports the work that makes future writing possible.

If we want African literature to continue growing, we have to do more than celebrate writers when they win prizes. We have to read them, buy their books, share their work, and make sure their stories reach the readers they deserve.

So, as we celebrate Ishola today, we invite you to go a step further: read his work and share it with someone who should know his name.

Congratulations once again to our 2026 Iska Book Prize winner, Ishola Abdulwasiu Ayodele. 🧡