Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa Region Shortlist

The Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa Region Shortlist has been announced. I got this information from Accra Books and Things who also led me to Africa is a Country, where the list have been posted. In the Best Book category there are six books: 4 from South Africa, 1 from Nigeria and another 1 from Sierra Leone. In the First Best Book category there are again 6 books equally shared between Nigeria and South Africa. 

Hey! What are the writers in the other countries doing? Is this indicative of the dearth of excellent writers in the remaining fifty-two countries? 

Africa Best Book:
  1. The Memory of Love by Aminata Forna (Sierra Leone)
  2. Men of the South by Sukiswa Wanner (South Africa)
  3. The Unseen Leopard by Bridget Pitt (South Africa)
  4. Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
  5. Blood at Bay by Sue Rabie (South Africa)
  6. Banquet at Brabazan by Patricia Schonstein (South Africa)
Africa Best First Book:
  1. Happiness is a Four Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
  2. Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke (Nigeria)
  3. The Fossil Artist by Graeme Friedman (South Africa)
  4. Colour Blind by Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria)
  5. Voice of America by E.C. Osondu (Nigeria)
  6. Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce (South Africa)
The announcement of the winners would mean that my Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa Region Reading Challenge would increase by two books. Like fractals, this is possibly a challenge that would not end, or whose end is a function of when organisers would stop awarding writers, at least for the African Region. And I hope it does not end.

Like Accra Books and Things, most of these writers are new to me especially the South African authors. I hope to expand my readings and enrich my mind with these readings.

Comments

  1. Geosi15 February 2011 at 11:14

    Nana, in my opinion, I believe that there are countless number of talented writers in the other countries but the thing is all about lack of quality publishing companies who should market the writers and their books. South Africa boasts of well established publishing industry. My recent interview with Rosa tshuma even proves that the literary and publishing scene in South Africa is great. Nonetheless, it is so sad that no Ghanaian was able to make it to shortlist. Aw!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ImageNations15 February 2011 at 11:27

    @Geosi, that's a good point. It's all about publishing. It's sad that most African writers only make it 'big' when they leave this continent. I believe we shall get there soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amy15 February 2011 at 14:25

    Definitely a challenge with no end :) It is surprising that most of the books are from SA and Nigeria and I think what Geosi said is true. The missing piece there is the publishing industry unfortunately. I must say though that I am very happy to see Habila's Oil on Water listed. I really enjoyed that book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ImageNations15 February 2011 at 14:30

    @Amy, I hope so. I am yet to read any of these. I have added all 12 books to my wishlist, which like yours keep growing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sandra15 February 2011 at 17:05

    Sadly, only The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna is available at my library. They do have Habila's Measuring Time so there's hope they'll get Oil on Water in the future. And I'm hoping they get the winner if not a few more of the nominees over time. I'll be interested to see what everyone thinks of these books.
    I'm hoping to read the nominees in the other three Commonwealth categories too, availability is the only drawback. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ImageNations15 February 2011 at 17:13

    @Sandra, same here. I have only added all of them to my WISHLIST. Isn't it funny? The books are not available in Ghana. I haven't read any of these. I hope they become African enough with their distribution. I would still be on the look out for these and would let you know my thoughts. I would also look out for your thoughts. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Help Improve the Blog with a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10. Unexpected Joy at Dawn: My Reading

Image
Title: Unexpected Joy At Dawn Author: Alex Agyei-Agyiri Genre: Novel Publisher: Sub-Saharan Publishers Pages: 331 Year: 2004 Country: Ghana Unexpected Joy at Dawn is a story of two siblings, Nii and Mama Orojo, during the 1983 deportation of Ghanaians from Nigeria under the Shehu Shagari government. Nii, who is a Nigerian by blood but a Ghanaian by birth, was left in Ghana by his parents as they made the tortuous journey to Nigeria when Ghana enacted the Aliens Compliance Order of 1969, which made every person living in Ghana without the required papers an alien. His name was changed to reflect the name of his adopted parents. After fourteen years of living in hardship in Ghana, which involves living in slums even though he was an Assistant Manager at a bank, taking on multiple jobs, not being able to bury a wife and being chased around by market women for purported 'fraud', he decided to go to Nigeria in search of his roots. Besides, he entertained the fears of being...
Read more

69. The Clothes of Nakedness by Benjamin Kwakye, A Review

Image
Title: The Clothes of Nakedness Author: Benjamin Kwakye Publishers: Heinemann African Writers Series Genre: Fiction/Novel/Class Pages: 212 Year of First Publication: 1998 Country: Ghana For the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa Region Winners Reading Challenge Benjamin Kwakye 's novel The Clothes of Nakedness  is a compelling narrative directed at a Ghanaian audience, in particular. It reveals the economic hardships existing in our society; it also reveals the intricately woven relationships between the rich and the poor and how the 'seemingly' rich manipulate the poor to further that wealth-dom in this dual economic society where absolute riches exist side by side with abject poverty. The latter scenario is even more stark and pathetic if one knows that Nima and Kanda Estates, two neighbourhoods presented in the story, are real and not just fictional representation made concrete by Kwakye's brilliant mind. The story revolves around thr...
Read more

42. The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi

Image
Title: The Blinkards, A Comedy and The Anglo-Fanti - A Short Story Author: Kobina Sekyi Genre: Play/Short Story Pages: 256 Publishers: Heinemann/Readwide ISBN: 978-0-435-92784-4 Year of Publication: 1974 (this edition, 1997) Country: Gold Coast (Now Ghana) Setting:  This book contains two stories: The Blinkards - a play and The Anglo-Fanti - a short story . Though the stories are from two different genres, one theme threads through them: the effect of absolute cultural osmosis or better still the consequences of swallowing an alien culture without much scrutiny, as happened in occupied countries popularly referred to by the occupiers as colonies (colonies of what? Ants? Bees?) Both stories took place in Cape Coast and the setting is very significant to the story. Apart from the author being a Fanti from Cape Coast, Cape Coast was the first point of introduction to colonial rule. As a seaport city, it was the first town that was brought under colonial rule; hence ...
Read more