Kaine Agary; Author of Yellow-Yellow, a debut with which she won the 2008 NLNG Nigerian Prize for Literature. Agary was the first new generation writer to win the high-priced award. The 2007 edition produced Mabel Segun and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo as joint winners. Agary’s Yellow-Yellow is the story of Zilayefa, a young bi-racial girl in search of her true identity in the impoverished, but oil-rich Niger-Delta. It examines the plight of children produced by illicit dalliances between rich expatriate oil workers and poor women in oil-bearing communities, whose poverty is exploited.
Agary, the only child of her Ijaw mother, grew up in Port Harcourt, where her novels are set. She holds a Masters Degree literature in Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Socioeconomics from Mount Holyoke College, South Massachusetts, USA. The award makes Agary the first new generation writer to win the coveted prize. The 2007 edition produced Mabel Segun and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo as joint winners.