Tade Ipadeola (born September 1970 in Fiditi, Oyo State) is a Nigerian poet who writes in English and Yoruba.
[2] After reading the works of J. P. Clarke and Christopher Okigbo, Ipadeola started writing poetry himself in 1990, and he says it took him 10–12 years of consistent practice to master the craft.
Ipadeola has also translated two classical Yoruba novels, by Daniel Fagunwa, into English: The Divine Cryptograph (Aditu); and The Pleasant Potentate of Ibudo (Ireke Onibudo), both in 2010, but they remain unpublished.
The jury chaired by Prof. Romanus Egudu called The Sahara Testaments "a remarkable epic covering the terrain and people of Africa from the very dawn of creation, through the present, to the future."
It also contains potent rhetoric and satire on topical issues and personalities, ranging from Africa’s blood diamonds and inflation in Nigeria…" It was also noted that "Ipadeola’s use of poetic language demonstrates a striking marriage of thought and verbal artistry expressed in the blending of sound and sense."
Ipadeola’s work beat two other stiff contenders who made the final three, Ogochukwu Promise and Chidi Amu Nnadi, to clinch the prize.
Ipadeola has said that he would use the $100,000 prize money to build a library in his hometown Ibadan in honour of the poet Kofi Awoonor, who was gunned down by terrorists at Kenya's Westgate Shopping Mall in September 2013.