2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize... from Africa: Shortlist
Posted by Celia Walter | 23 Feb, 2009The shortlists for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book and Best First Book from Africa were announced today, 18 February 2009.
Former
regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize winner for Africa's Best Book,
Damon Galgut, is joined by academic Tim Keegan and journalist, poet and
campaigner Mandla Langa in the line up for the Best Book Award. Sindiwe
Magona and Zoë Wicomb complete the shortlist.
The full shortlists are:
Best Book
Damon Galgut (South Africa) The Imposter Penguin
Tim Keegan (South Africa ) My Life with the Duvals Umuzi
Sindiwe Magona (South Africa) Beauty's Gift Kwela books
Mandla Langa (South Africa) The Lost Colours of the Chameleon Picador Africa
Zoe Wicomb (South Africa) The One That Got Away Umuzi
Best First Book
Jassy Mackenzie (South Africa) Random Violence Umuzi
Uwem Akpan (Nigeria) Say You're One of Them Abacus
Megan Voysey-Braig (South Africa) Till We Can Keep An Animal Jacana Media
Chris Mamewick (South Africa) Shepherds and Butchers Umuzi
Sue Rabie (South Africa) Boston Snowplough Human & Rousseau
Jane Bennett (South Africa ) Porcupine Kwela Books
The
judging panel was chaired by Elinor Sisulu (South Africa). She was
joined by judges Kole Omotoso (Nigeria) and Billy Karanja Kahora
(Kenya).
Elinor Sisulu commented:
'Once again Africa's
publishing powerhouses, South Africa and Nigeria dominated the entries.
Of over fifty entries received, only two were from Kenya and two from
Ghana. There was an unusually high number of short story collections
among the entries.'
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, a much
valued and sought-after award, aims to reward the best Commonwealth
fiction written in English, by both established and new writers, and to
take their works to a global audience.
The two African regional
winners that emerge from the shortlists will be announced on 11 March
2009 at The Time of the Writer Festival in Durban, South Africa. These
two winners will then enter the final phase of the competition and go
on to compete head to head with the other six finalists from Canada and
the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia and South East Asia and the
Pacific for the overall Best Book and Best First Book award.
The
two overall winners, chosen by an international panel of six judges
coming together in New Zealand, will be announced on 16 May at the
Auckland Writers' and Readers Festival (AWRF).
Each of the
regional winners will receive £1,000 and in addition be invited to take
part in a week-long series of community events and public readings
alongside the final judging in New Zealand, culminating in the
announcement of the two overall winners for Best First Book and Best
Book.
The overall Best Book winner will receive £10,000 and the overall Best First Book winner will receive £5,000.
Source: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/news/news/detail.cfm?id=497