Roy Williams and Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini awarded Windham-Campbell Prizes for drama

Commenting on their Windham-Campbell award, Feyiṣayọ Ibini said: “I am over the moon and currently hurtling through space somewhere near Jupiter... just marvelling at all of this; the past, the present and the crystallising future. 

“I am eternally grateful to my ancestors and everyone who has helped me get this far, and so appreciative to everyone involved at the Windham-Campbell Prize for this thoughtful injection into my career.”

Feyiṣayọ Ibini told The Stage they were already writing their next work, which has “a lot to say about the adult social care system”. 

Williams called the prize “an unexpected delight”, noting that he was “truly speechless – I am thrilled as well as honoured”.

He said the prize money would give him the support to finish fledgling plays and work on ideas that had been “in his bottom drawer”, as well as reworking an existing play altogether. 

Both writers have won $175,000 to create their work “independent of financial concerns” as part of the global prize. 

The winners of the fiction prize were writers Anne Enright and Sigrid Nunez, with Patricia J Williams and Rana Dasgupta scooping the non-fiction prizes. The poetry awards were given to Anthony V Capildeo and Tongo Eisen-Martin.

The prizes are administered by Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.