The Third Side of a Coin

The Third Side of a Coin is a portrait of childhood: of Ethan, a boy of eight, growing up in a modern urban Nigerian city. Through him, we see and experience the underlying religious and ethnic tensions in his family, community, and school environments. We experience his unease, his internal struggles, and his conflicts. We grope towards understanding with him as, together, we encounter those support systems and supportive relationships in his environments — and we feel with him their attempts to resolve the conflicts and confusion within him.

Longlist, Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024