The long list for the inaugural Etisalat for Literature, the first pan-African prize open solely to debut fiction writers of African citizenship, is out. The longlist to the prize judged by professor Pumla Dineo Gqola the Chair of Judges and Professor at the University of Witwaterstrand, Sarah Ladipo Manyika a writer and academic and Billy […]
Year: 2013
Book :Hear me alone. Author: Thando Mgqolozana Year:2011 Publisher: Jacana. Pages:131 South African writer Thando Mgqolozana was first known for his book A man is not man about a botched circumcision and how it all turned out for the poor chap. Rave reviews all round although I have been unable to get a copy of […]
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Nairobi goes gaga for Chimamanda Adichie
The Kwani Trust turned ten years old this year and the trust that built its name as the new face of Kenyan literature hosted several events to celebrate this fact. I was one of the many Nairobi folks that filled the University of Nairobi 8-4-4 hall on Friday last week. The crowd was full and […]
A sequel to Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir which was written by Kenya’s most famous literary son Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is imminent. Dreams launched in 2010 and was received quite well. Dauti Kahura writing in the Star described the new book as one from a master storyteller giving a history lesson […]
The Miles Morland Scholarship 2013 recipients have been announced with Doreen Baingana, Tony Mochama and Percy Zvomuya getting the nod. The scholarships awarded by the Miles Morland Foundation were announced at the Caine Prize earlier this year when that American dude won it. The recipients receive a grant of £18,000 to be paid monthly over […]
Writivism is an initiative of the Kampala Uganda based Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) and aims at promoting emerging African writers. This is by equipping writers with skills, through workshops and mentor ship and promoting their work through newspaper publication of stories.It also includes developing workshops, the publication of an annual anthology, an annual […]
Nairobi was in the throes of literary awesomeness as we hosted the Storymoja Hay Festival 2013 in September. Hold onto your horses literary fans; have we got a follow up literary event for you. Its the ten year anniversary of Kenya’s most famous literary journal Kwani? at the end of November Kwani? started ten years […]
Last week was Ghanaian Literature Week, the third edition of the annual celebration of literature and discussions of book/reading related issues in Ghana. The event is mainly hosted in Accra the capital of the West African country that seems obsessed with electing Presidents whose first name is John in recent times. A lot of the […]
The Golden Baobab prize is meant to encourage African literary content by African writers and illustrators for African children. The winners of the Golden Prize 2013 were announced on the 13th November and included writers and illustrators from South Africa. The winners were; Picture Books – Liza Esterhuyse (South Africa) for The Little Hippo. Early […]
The richest literary prize on the continent, despite all you may have heard, is the Nigeria Prize for Literature. This prize, sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), see one writer go home with a cool US$100,000. For comparison purposes, the Caine Prize winner goes home with UK pounds10,000 and the Etisalat Winner will […]
Book: Vanishing Herds Author: Henry Ole Kulet Publisher: Longhorn Publishers Year of publishing: 2011 Number of Pages: 225 Its been a great time to be Henry Ole Kulet as he won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for literature for 2013 for his book Vanishing Herds. The book has gone on to be one of the most […]
The Man Booker Prize committee last night announced the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2013: Eleanor Catton for her 832 page book The Luminaries. The New Zealand native is also the youngest winner of the award at 28. The book she wrote according to the website of the prize is “set in 1866 during […]
If you are Kenyan educated then you must know the name Malkiat Singh. He is the guy who has written over 100 books that are used as textbooks in Kenyan schools. It has emerged that the writer has sold off the rights to all of his books to Longhorn Publishers for Kshs83 million – I […]
The “master of the contemporary short story” Alice Munro is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2013. She is the 2009 winner of the Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, she is also a three-time winner of Canada’s Governor General’s Award for fiction. African writers have been known for […]
The Commonwealth Writers Prize 2014 is open for business! Apologies for the yelling and everything. The thing is that I was looking online when I stumbled on this one and was quite happy. The prize opened on 1st October and will be open until 30th November. So what is the Commonwealth Writers prize. Its a […]
