Aminatta Forna Wins Commonwealth Writers Prize Award 2011

After winning the award for Africa Region, Aminatta Forna, author of The Memory of Love, was voted as the overall winner yesterday at a ceremony organised for the winners, in Sydney.

Best Book Winner: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone). According to the judges:

The Memory of Love for its risk taking, elegance and breadth. A poignant story about friendship, betrayal, obsession and second chances – the novel is an immensely powerful portrayal of human resilience. The judges concluded that The Memory of Love delicately delves into the courageous lives of those haunted by the indelible effects of Sierra Leone’s past and yet amid that loss gives us a sense of hope and optimism for their future. Forna has produced a bold, deeply moving and accomplished novel which confirms her place among the most talented writers in literature today.

About Aminatta Forna: Aminatta Forna was born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Her first book, The Devil that Danced on the Water, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2003. Her novel Ancestor Stones was winner of the 2008 Hurston Wright Legacy Award, the Literaturpreis in Germany, was nominated for the International IMPAC Award and selected by the Washington Post as one of the most important books of 2006. Aminatta lives in London.

Best First Book Winner: A Man Melting by Craig Cliff (New Zealand). According to the judges they 

this highly entertaining and thought provoking collection of short stories for their ambition, creativity and craftsmanship. Confidently blending ideas that frequently weave outlandish concepts with everyday incidents, the prose is skilfully peppered with social observations that define the world we live in. The eighteen short stories are truly insightful and amplify many of the absurdities around us, reflecting our own expectations, fears and paranoia on the big questions in life. This book is of the moment, and is rightly at home on a global platform. Cliff is a talent to watch and set to take the literary world by storm.

About Craig Cliff: Craig Cliff was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. A graduate of Victoria University’s MA in creative writing, his short stories and poetry have been published in New Zealand and Australia. His short story 'Another Language' won the novice section of the 2007 BNZ Katherine Mansfield Awards. Craig lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Nicholas Hasluck, Chair of the judging panel said:

This year’s winning books demonstrate the irreducible power of the written word at a time of rapid global change and uncertainty. The standard of entries this year has been exceptional, showcasing work with strong insight, spirit and voice introducing readers to unfamiliar worlds.   

Read more about the awards and winners at the Commonwealth Foundation's site.

The Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 Shortlist

The Orange Prize for Fiction has announced its shortlist for the 2011 prize. From the long-list of 20 books written by women, the shortlist is made up of 6 books from different parts of the world. The number of African women authors have also dropped from 3 to 1: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna. Below is the list:

• Room by Emma Donoghue 
• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
• Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson
• Great House by Nicole Krauss
• The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
• Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Click here for the full announcement. We wish Aminatta Forna well in this award.

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna--Review at the Guardian

I have been a little busy in recent times and my reading has largely been affected. I would pick up from where I stopped perhaps tomorrow and slowly chew my way through the novels. However, in remaining true to promoting African literature I hereby link you to a novel, The Memory of Love, written by Aminatta Forna and reviewed by Helon Habila.Though I have not read this novel, if the review is anything to go by it is likely to be a good read. 

Excerpts from the review:

Aminatta Forna's brilliant new novel takes an oblique look at the Sierra Leonean civil war of the 1990s. Instead of focusing on the gruesome details of killing and looting and the sectarian politics behind it all, the novel examines in clinical and psychological detail how people survive the memory of war. Despite its horrors, war at least provided some certainties; people survived from day to day. Now the future lies before them and they are uncertain, filled with memories of loss and shame, often pushed into a state of fugue. Forna describes this as a "dissociative condition in which the mind creates an alternative state. This state may be considered a place of safety, a refuge." It is a coping mechanism, often involuntary. Some characters, such as the retired university professor Elias Cole, try to review their history for posterity, hiding the dark moments, emphasising the good ones. Some, including the idealistic young doctor Kai Mansaray, would escape to America – if only he could drop the heavy baggage he is carrying.

Read the full review here...

As Friends Share their Favourite Reads of 2011, #FavBook2011

Source

After sharing my Favourite Reads of 2011 I turned to my friends to share theirs with ImageNations through the Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus platforms. The handler on Twitter was #FavBook2011. There were no rules except that the book(s) should have been read in 2011. The following were the books shared. The objective of this sharing exercise is to encourage others to read. 

• The first person to respond to this call was Novisi Dzitre who blogs at Novisi. He is a Blogger, Technology Geek (though he might not accept this), Writer, a Friend and a Great Controversialist.  Novisi chose Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep not Child and A Grain of Wheat  as his favourite books of 2011. It is not every time that an author gets to enjoy this position in a reader's life. If you haven't tried anything yet by Ngugi, you should start from the first of these books.

• Obed Sarpong of Ready to Chew, a Radio Broadcast Journalist and Writer, selected the Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I have not yet foraged into the world of Russo-Lit yet. Perhaps, a properly structured challenge could help remedy this.

• Courage Ahiati blogs at Courage's Melting Pot. He describes himself as a Political Scientist by profession and a Writer by birth. As a writer Courage loves to read and he selected Benito Mussolini's biography The Duce written by Richard Collier and James Michener's The Covenant as his favourite books of 2011. 

• Dedicated book bloggers are a few in Ghana and Kinna of Kinna Reads is one of them. She reads wide and could, if challenged, name at least a writer from every country. When asked for her favourite book(s) for 2011, the Reader, Reviewer, Feminist and Follower of African Politics, selected Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele, The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna and Fly away Peter by David Malouf. 

• Bembga Nyakuma of Renditions is one of my virtual friends, thanks to twitter just like many on this list. Bembga describes himself as an Outlier, Writer and a Gentleman, at least that is what is Twitter Page says. He chose Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.

• I found Shannon of Reading has a Purpose's blog on my daily blog surfing through other people's reading list - this is how I follow blogs. She loves to read and her preferred genre is non-fiction because of what knowledge and facts it ends up giving to the reader. When Shannon selected George W. Bush's Decision Points as her favourite book for 2011 she added 'seriously' to the tweet. 

• Comrade Casca Amanquah Hackman shared his books on facebook. The first was Aminatta Forna's The Memory of Love, the only book that was selected by two different individuals, no wonder it won the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Comrade's second book does not come from any Communist or Socialist country. It is Moo by Jane Smiley.

• Ghostwritten by David Mitchell was Tendai Huchu's selection. Tendai Huchu is the author of The Hairdresser of Harare. This is one of the benefits of book blogging - getting to interact with the writers themselves. Thanks TH for your contribution.

• If there is any blogger who keeps me from falling, it is Amy McKie of Amy Reads. Amy is a voracious reader, blogger and a member of my virtual friends. She provided me with some of the books I needed to complete my Reading Challenge. Amy selected Sarah Ladipo Manyika's In-Dependence,  Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and African Love Stories edited by Ama Ata Aidoo.

These are the few individuals who shared their books with me. Thanks to you all for participating in this first ever 'friends share their favourite reads'. I have been reminded to read some books.
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Note: some of these links lead to amazon.com. 

Three on the 2011 Orange Prize Longlist

The Orange Prize long list has just been published. The list include highly successful books such as Emma Donoghue's Room, which was shortlisted for the Booker Awards and Aminatta Forna's The Memory of Love which recently won the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Award for Africa Region. Leila Aboulela also won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 with The Museum.Out of the twenty (20) long-listed books, three of them are by Africans:

• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria)
• Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (Sudan)

The Orange prize was created to celebrate "excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing throughout the world". Read more about the long-listed authors here. Also read my interview with Lola Shoneyin here. 

Readers' Top Ten - Casca Amanquah Hackman

I have known Casca on Facebook for sometime and I guess we became friends because after scanning his profile I saw we share a lot of things, a lot. He loves to read and to talk about them. Then we met at one of the monthly Writers Project of Ghana's book discussions for the first time.

About Casca Amanquah Hackman: Casca 'Comrade' Amanqua Hackman is a graduate of the Universtiy of Ghana, a former school teacher and past editor of the Golden World Magazine. His short stories and articles have been published in Daily Graphic and Mirror.

Below is Casca's top ten African books. Note that I have linked the titles and authors to posts within ImageNations, where available. My views and his might not be the same and so beware when reading and judging them.

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Yes, a good book is a good book, and it’s enjoyed anywhere; yet it's enjoyed better by persons who find the setting, characters and themes familiar. There are good books from Africa too. And so, as an African, reading African stories are most convenient to me, primarily because the environment, challenges and events are familiar, and so I find it easy to adopt the story as mine and also understand the messages naturally. 

There is a vast array of African books. I know that as I read more, the list is likely to change, but for now these are my top ten in no particular order. 

MATIGARI (Ngugi wa Thiong'o). I am fond of the main character of this book, Matigari ma Njiruungi. Personally, I share his conviction for justice and his abhorrence for oppression. It has a strong message for the capitalist system that has made indigenous people slaves in their own land. 

HEAD ABOVE WATER (Buchi Emecheta). Of course Buchi Emecheta has always written from her personal experiences and in this autobiography she delves deeper into her roots, to the extent of even going as far back as the period before she was born. From her native town of Ibuza, through her luck in getting admission at the Methodist High School, her marriage at sixteen and sojourn to England, she has chronicled her life in 33 beautiful chapters. I can only say her life has been a miracle.

DIPLOMATIC POUNDS AND OTHER STORIES (Ama Ata Aidoo). Released just last year, this book contains twelve thoughtful short stories.  Women are at the center as usual. It’s a blend of the success, challenges and expectations, whether reasonable or not, that stare at women both home and abroad.

NO LONGER AT EASE (Chinua Achebe). Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the famous Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart, is not able to escape the trap that Africans who had returned from studying abroad in pre-independence Nigeria had set for themselves. The economic and social expectations that welcomed him back home to Nigeria from studying in England, corrupts him against his own stance on morality. Although, it lives under the shadow of Things Fall Apart, its prophetic occurrence is not invisible.

MY FIRST COUP D'ETAT (John Dramani Mahama). It’s great to have political leaders writing their stories. Objectively, it helps the follower to know who their leader is and better assess his actions and ideas. Eighteen compelling chapters under different titles make this fine book. Mahama takes us through a tough and unforgettable journey from Damongo through Accra, Tamale, Nigeria and Russia. It’s an autobiography with very serious historical, social and political information that has either been hidden or misquoted all this while.

NEIGHBOURS (Lilia Momple). Have I heard any good thing about apartheid? This sad account of innocent people caught up in a bloody conspiracy they have nothing to do with adds up to all the evil of apartheid. In a quest to destabilize Mozambique, where ANC exiles were operating from, the South African government launches vicious campaigns, and peaceful people like Narguiss are caught up in the conspiracy they have nothing to do with. It’s an emotional story with a straight lesson; the fact that you don’t want trouble doesn't mean trouble wouldn't come your way.

THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK (Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie). Twelve nice short stories set in both Nigeria and USA, in which the complexities of love, career and many others are exposed to unexpected minds. The messages are straight and binding.

SO LONG A LETTER (Mariama Ba). It’s the most moving and emotional book I have read. This book can be placed alongside Buchi Emecheta’s Head Above Water, because of its candidness and emotional evocations. The style is skillful and the language is like music to the mind.

THE MEMORY OF LOVE (Aminatta Forna). Even in times of war and quagmire, people always fall in love. The difficult decisions to make and the complications in such situations are strongly highlighted by Aminatta in this lengthy novel. The style is subtle yet the theme is terse.

GATHERING SEAWEED (Jack Mapanje). All what we need to know about African freedom fighters are in this book. Even knowing the personal account of people like Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Ngugi wa Thiongo and many others is gratifying enough. In this collection, we have deeper insight into the challenges of fighting to free natives and lands from oppression and foreign rule.   

Readers' Top Ten - Kinna Reads

Last week I introduced a new series I wanted to run on ImageNations called Readers' Top Ten. I said one of its aims was to introduce readers to the rich literature Africa has to offer. The series begins today with Kinna Reads. 

About Kinna: Kinna is a book blogger at Kinna Reads among many other things. On her blog Kinna says

I grew up in literary, bookish household. I love books, reading, nurturing and developing my appreciation for the art form. I read mostly fiction, both contemporary and classic. I really enjoy world literature. I'm partial to women writers and their works, especially African women writers.

Below is Kinna's Top Ten. Note that I have linked the titles and authors to posts within ImageNations, where available. My views and Kinna's might not be the same and so beware when reading them.
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Where do I begin? So first, I consider this blog’s owner, Nana Fredua, a friend.  He is reader kin. And the best kind of reader kin; he reads and loves African literature.

But really, what kind of brother-reader asks a sister to compile her top ten African books?  Eh, Nana?  Don’t get me wrong; I love lists.  I have reading lists on my blog.  But I shy away from making lists of favorite books.  The closest I came to such was a post on the Best Five of Jose Saramago’s novels.  That was easy because I was confined to just Saramago’s novels. And even then I couldn't restrict myself to five books and managed to list seven.  The “what’s your favorite book, what’s your favorite author?’ line of questions temporarily render readers speechless.  And Nana knows this. This is not reader kinship. But I’m a good sister and Nana Fredua will be obliged.

The List

My rules (because Nana must not be obeyed):  one book per author but can suggest up to 2 books/author if I cannot decide.  The two books count as one entry. And I can exceed ten books if the pain of culling is unbearable.

I allowed myself to be aggressively guided by the following paragraph in Nana’s introduction of Readers’ Top Ten:

“The aim of this project is to introduce to readers of ImageNations the rich literature the continent has to offer.  It is meant to move beyond the 'one-novel African literature', which seems to have come to define literature in Africa. It is also to promote African literature to both Western audience and Africans who hardly read from the continent or are unsure of where to start.”

[In alphabetical order by author.  This is not a ranked list]

Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

I should have taken Achebe off this list if indeed I was “aggressively guided “by Nana’s paragraph above.  Because who doesn't know of Achebe nor cannot find out by just googling African Literature.  I don’t ride for that “one novel African Literature”, Things Fall Apart. I am solidly in #TeamArrowOfGod. Achebe’s lead characters are stubborn people and I prefer stubborn with wise in Ezeulu even if we lose the battle between change and continuity!

Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo

I debated whether to include a book by this author. Would it be nepotism, Nana?  Drama is African literature’s finest tradition. Aidoo’s treatment of slavery, love, infertility and community is powerful.  A haunting tragedy.

So Long A Letter by Mariama Ba

Ramatoulaye gets under my skin. Every time I read this novel, I want to yell and tell her that 25 years is enough, that he left you, that keeping the door open all those years was just wrong… But Ramatoulaye very calmly, and with such eloquence, explains her side of the story. I’m never persuaded but I find myself thinking ‘I hear you, I hear you’.  She should have been a lawyer. I’m also a sucker for well-written epistolary novels.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

I don’t know but sometimes I think there are right moments when a book and its reader meet.  I just can’t explain it.  I met Nervous Conditions towards the waning years of my family’s exile in Zimbabwe and I will forever be grateful for Dangarembga’s exploration of class, race and gender.

Close Sesame/Maps by Nuruddin Farah

Farah is one of a handful of African male writers who make an effort to write well-conceived women characters.   It’s hard to pick just one of his books.  He tends to group his novel in trilogies of theme.  Close Sesame, of the Variations on the Theme of An African Dictatorship trilogy, centers on Deeriye, a gentle and dignified patriarch. I’m not one for patriarchal figures but this old man is so beautifully and hauntingly rendered. He’s one of the most memorable characters in all of literature.  Maps, from the Blood in the Sun Trilogy, is about identity - personal, familial and national.  The central character is the orphan Askar, another unforgettable character.  In fact, Farah’s novels are driven by his characters.  He’s said he means to write his people and certainly the people of Somalia are well-represented and loved in Farah’s work.

A Question of Power by Bessie Head

Bessie Head leaves me speechless and tongue-tied.  I cannot say that I enjoyed A Question of Power because it is so darn painful. And one cannot liberate Bessie Head from the pain.  Still, A Question of Power is an essential book for me, as is all of Head’s novels.

Palace Walk/Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Here’s the thing: it doesn't really matter which of Mahfouz’s gems I put here, and there are plenty. Miramar, Harafish, Children of the Alley, The Beggar and numerous other books are all fantastic.  He opened my eyes and heart to Egyptian literature and then he gave me the world. Read him, please.

The Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele

This book floors me every time I read it.  Part fiction, non-fiction, theory, fantasy, experimental, it situates post-apartheid South African nationalist and identity issues within the realm of women’s lives.  Simply brilliant and for me, absolutely essential.

Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat

Would it help if I told you that Distant View of a Minaret is one of Achebe’s favorite books?  Because I wonder how it is that this masterpiece is often overlooked by readers South of the Sahara. A collection of short stories centred mainly on the lives of Egyptian women, it’s groundbreaking and utterly exquisite.

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

A man returns home to Sudan after a sojourn in England. The best book on post-coloniality ever.  If you’re inclined to yawn at the term post-colonial, then read this book for its gorgeous prose, its searing honesty and its lyricism.  It is considered one of the finest novels of Arabic literature.  We will, forever, keep coming back to this masterpiece.

God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene

I know it is not a competition between film lovers and readers.  But I want to remind y’all that Sembene Ousmane was also a writer of tremendous significance. So give those reels a break and crack open one of his novels. God’s Bits of Wood is a novel about the proletariat.

Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka

I think sometimes folks forget or don’t even know what gives Soyinka all that stature.  It’s not his defiance of African leaders, not his eloquently, perfectly pitched missives directed at those who betray African people. It is his plays, his art, his incredible imagination – his sheer genius. Inspired by actual events, Death of the King’s Horseman is vintage Soyinka and rejects simplistic explanations.  Since we privilege tragedy over comedy, this particular Soyinka play is a must read.  If only death was always this beautiful and glorious!

Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Ngugi himself may not know this and I’m going to tell him:  all his other novels were in preparation for Wizard of the Crow.  Yes, even Matigari.  Wizard is the best approximation of Africa’s oral tradition rendered in the written form.  Wildly entertaining, funny, epic etc. etc., Wizard is a world unto itself.

Butterfly Burning/The Stone Virgins by Yvonne Vera

It’s hard to talk about Vera because I always need to get over the shock of her early death and how much of her words died with her.  The thing with Vera is she never lets us off easy. But she cushions the brutality with poetic prose and a sensuality that is life-affirming.  Both books explore Zimbabwe’s difficult past.  She does wonders with imagery.

Okay, Nana.  It’s been brutal culling this list and leaving out books like Purple Hibiscus [Chimamanda Adichie], Search Sweet Country [Kojo Laing], Woman at Point Zero [Nawal El Saadawi], We Killed Mangy Dog [Luis Bernardo Honwana], The Memory of Love [Aminatta Forna], etc etc.  But I enjoyed the exercise and of course, I realize again that I need to read more African Literature.  I need a soothing cup of tea now.

#FavBooks2012: As Friends Share their Favourite Books of 2012

Last year I shared my friends' favourite books of 2011. Favourite books were collected from friends on Twitter, Facebook, and the Google Plus platforms. The objective is to encourage people to read more books and for other readers to know that there's a community of readers out there. It also serve as a pool for other readers to select books they would want to read. I've already shared ImageNations' favourite books of 2012. Here are the favourite books of friends:

•  Nartekuor is a twitter friend. She's from Ghana and considers herself as 'doing the most outrageous things and chalking it up to life's topsy turvies'. Nartekuor chose John Grisham's The Appeal;
• Ms. Komassi describes herself as a '"work in progress", a friend, law graduate, blawgger, writer, God's girl, vintage fan...'. She blogs here. Ms. Komassi's favourite books include The Suns of Independence; Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals; and Allah is not Obliged, all by Ahmaduu Kourouma;
• Miss Bwalya, a Zambian passionate about her country, Africa, Education, Women's Right, Development, and Entrepreneurship, selected Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor and So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba.
• Affoh G blogs about politics, culture, Literature, and History. She believes that if he who doesn't know learns, he gets to know. She blogs at My Library. According to Affoh G, Alex Haley's Roots and Les frasques d'Ébinto by Amadou Koné were her favourite books of 2012.
• Casca Comrade Amanquah Hackman and I have a lot of things in common, including reading. He selects, as his favourite books of 2012, The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna; My First Coup d'etat by John Dramani Mahama (the President of Ghana); Diplomatic Pounds and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo; African Violet - a Caine Prize Anthology; The Art of War by Sun Tzu; Children of Gebelawi by Naguib Mahfouz; and Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.
• Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, a Ugandan friend on facebook added Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's Shadows, Chika Unigwe's Night Dancer, and Ernest Bazanye's The Ballad of Black Bosco as his favourite books of 2012.

NoViolet Bulawayo wins 12th Caine Prize for African Writing

I had always known that the announcement of the Caine Prize for African Writing would fall on my birthday. However, in joyful and thoughtful moods that birthdays always bestow upon its adult celebrants, I entirely forgot to follow the announcement on twitter. Thanks, however, to the internet I have been able to retrieve the announcement of the winner.

Press Release

Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo has won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for her short story entitled ‘Hitting Budapest’, from The Boston Review, Vol 35, no. 6 – Nov/Dec 2010.

The Chair of Judges, award-winning author Hisham Matar, announced NoViolet Bulawayo as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held this evening (Monday 11 July) at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Hisham Matar said:

The language of ‘Hitting Budapest’ crackles. Here we encounter Darling, Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Stina and Sbho, a gang reminiscent of Clockwork Orange. But these are children, poor and violated and hungry. This is a story with moral power and weight, it has the artistry to refrain from moral commentary. NoViolet Bulawayo is a writer who takes delight in language.

NoViolet Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She recently completed her MFA at Cornell University, in the US, where she is now a Truman Capote Fellow and Lecturer of English. Another of her stories, ‘Snapshots’, was shortlisted for the 2009 SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award. NoViolet has recently completed a novel manuscript tentatively titled We Need New Names, and has begun work on a memoir project.

Also shortlisted were:

• Lauri Kubuitsile (Botswana) ‘In the spirit of McPhineas Lata’ from The Bed Book of Short Stories published by Modjaji Books, SA, 2010
• Tim Keegan (South Africa) ‘What Molly Knew’ from Bad Company published by Pan Macmillan SA, 2008
• David Medalie (South Africa) ‘The Mistress’s Dog’, from The Mistress’s Dog: Short stories, 1996-2010 published by Picador Africa, 2010
• Beatrice Lamwaka (Uganda) ‘Butterfly dreams’ from Butterfly Dreams and Other New Short Stories from Uganda published by Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, Nottingham, 2010

The panel of judges is chaired by award-winning Libyan novelist Hisham Matar, whose first novel, In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published by Viking this March.

He is joined on the panel by Granta deputy editor Ellah Allfrey, publisher, film and travel writer Vicky Unwin, Georgetown University Professor and poet David Gewanter, and the award-winning author Aminatta Forna.

Once again, the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will be given the opportunity to take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC as a ‘Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence’. The award will cover all travel and living expenses.

Last year the Caine Prize was won by Sierra Leonean writer Olufemi Terry. As the then Chair of judges, Fiammetta Rocco, said at the time, the story was 

ambitious, brave and hugely imaginative. Olufemi Terry’s ‘Stickfighting Days’ presents a heroic culture that is Homeric in its scale and conception. The execution of this story is so tight and the presentation so cinematic, it confirms Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future.

Previous winners include Sudan’s Leila Aboulela, winner of the first Caine Prize in 2000, whose new novel Lyrics Alley was published in January 2010 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, as well as Binyavanga Wainaina, from Kenya, who founded the well-known literary magazine, Kwani?, dedicated to promoting the work of new Kenyan writers and whose memoir One Day I Will Write About this Place will be published by Granta Books in November 2011.

You can read the winning story here.

[Courtesy: Wealth of Ideas]

Winner of the 2011 Orange Prize

The 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction has been announced. Though ImageNations was supporting Aminatta Forna with her The Memory of Love to win, things went in the way of the Serbian/American Author  Téa Obreht with her debut novel The Tiger's Wife (Weindedfeld and Nicolson). At 25, Obreht becomes the youngest-ever author to win the prize.

In its sixteenth anniversary this year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world. This comes timely as Naipaul in his ever caustic remarks has recently indicated that women authors, including Jane Austen, are inferior to him. Or so he was supposed to have said and this has generated a lot of heat in the literary blogging world, to which I have added my two pesewas, in the form of comments, here and there.

At a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, the 2011 Chair of Judges, Bettany Hughes, presented Obreht with the £30,000 and the 'Bessie', a limited edition bronze figurine. Is this 'Bessie' in honour of Bessie Head? The South African who became a Botswana citizen? If so then this figurine is worth winning.

According to the Chair of Juges, Bettany Hughes:

The Tiger's Wife is an exceptional book and Téa Obreht is a truly exciting new talent. Obreht's powers of observation and her understanding of the world are remarkable. By skillfully spinning a series of magical tales she has managed to bring the tragedy of a chronic Balkan conflict thumping into our front rooms with a bittersweet vivacity. ... The book reminds us how easily we can slip into barbarity, but also of the breadth and depth of human love. Obreht celebrates storytelling and she helps us to remember that it is the stories that we tell about ourselves, and about others, that can make us who we are and the world what it is.

About the Author: Téa Obreht was born in 1985 in the former Yugoslavia and raised in Belgrade. In 1992 her family moved to Cyprus and then to Egypt, where she learned to speak and read English, eventually immigrating to the United States in 1997. After graduating from the University of Southern California, Téa received her MFA in Fiction from the Creative Writing Program at Cornell University in 2009. Téa was featured in The New Yorker's Top 20 Writers under 40 Fiction Issue (June 2010) and at 24, was the youngest on the list. Her short story, The Laugh, debuted in The Atlantic fiction issue and was then chosen for The Best American Short Stories 2010, a further short story, The Sentry, featured in the Guardian Summer Fiction Issue. Her journalism has appeared in Harper's magazine and she lives in Ithaca, New York.


Read the full announcement here.

This wasn't my post of the day. For my post of the day, which is a review of Mia Couto's Every Man is a Race click here.

Winners of the 2011 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Africa Region

The winners of the Commonwealth Writers Prize has been announced. The winners for Africa Region are:

• Best Book: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
• Best First Book: Happiness is a Four-Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)

Congrats to all the winners. The shortlisted writers could be found here. Thus, I have increased my Commonwealth Writers Prize Winners Reading Project by two books, thanks to the winning authors. 

The judges for the Africa Region include: Ajoa Yeboa-Afari (Chair) (Ghana), Peter Simatei (South Africa) and Beula Thumbadoo (South Africa). Read more about them here.

Other Regional Winners announced include:

• Caribbean and Canada
• South Asia and Europe
• South East Asia and Pacific

Click here to read the winners in those regions. The overall winners would be announced on May 21, 2011. 

Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa Region Winners Reading Challenge

Geosireads has set himself the challenge of reading all the Commonwealth Writers Winners for Africa Region. As one who promotes African Literature, I believe I should participate in this challenge. I am, however, not setting myself any time limit for this challenge. I would as and when I get the books.

The awards are in two categories: Best Book and Best First Book. From 1987 to 1988 there was no Best First Book, rather a runner up was chosen for the Best Book category. This changed from 1989, though in that year no selection was made under the Best First Book category.

Titles in italics are those read and reviewed, in which case they have been linked to their respective reviews.

Best Book
2010 –  The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone) 
2009 – The Lost Colours of the Chameleon by Mandla Langa (South Africa)
2008 – The Hangman’s Game by Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria)
2007 – The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson (South Africa)
2006 – The Sun by Night by Benjamin Kwakye (Ghana)
2005 – Boy by Lindsey Collen (South Africa)
2004 – The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut (South Africa)
2003 – The Other Side of Silence by Andre Brink (South Africa)
2002 – The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)
2001 – The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda (Soutth Africa)
2000 – Disgrace by J.M Coetzee (South Africa)
1999 – If You Can Walk, You Can Dance by Marion Molteno (South Africa)
1998 – Walking Still by Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwe)
1997 – Under the Tongue by Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwe)
1996 – No Selection Made
1995 – The Master of Petersburg by J.M Coetzee (South Africa)
1994 – The Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen (Mauritius)
1993 – Tides by Isidore Okpewho (Nigeria)
1992 - Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)
1991 – The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar by Syl Cheney-Coker (Sierra Leone)
1990 – Harvest of Thorns by Shimmer Chinodya (Zimbabwe)
1989 – Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)
1988 – 1. Heroes by Festus Iyayi (Nigeria)
            2. The Setting Sun and the Rolling World, Charles Mungoshi, (Zimbabwe) (Runner-up)

1987 – 1. Incidents at the Shrine by Ben Okri (Nigeria); 

2. A Forest of Flowers by Ken Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria) (Runner-up)

Best First Book
2010 – Happiness is a Four-Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
2009 – Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (Nigeria)

2008 – Imagine This by Sade Adeniran (Nigeria)

2007 – All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case (South Africa)

2006 – Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe by Doreen Baingana (Uganda)

2005 – Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

2004 – Gardening at Night by Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)

2003 – Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila (Nigeria)

2002 – Ama by Manu Herbstein (South Africa)

2001 – Thirteen Cents by K Sello Duiker (South Africa)

2000 – The Legend of the Rockhills and Other Stories by Funso Aiyejina (Nigeria)

1999 – The Clothes of Nakedness by Benjamin Kwakye (Ghana)

1998 – Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter by Pamela Jooste (South Africa)

1997 – At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories by Ronnie Govender (South Africa)

1996 – Winds of Change by Dene Coetzee (South Africa)

1995 – The River and the Source by Margaret A. Ogola (Kenya)

1994 – Cry a Whisper by Lucy Safo (Ghana)

1993 – The Price of Liberty by Paul Conton (Sierra Leone)

1992 - Grief Child by Lawrence Darmani (Ghana)

1991 – Our Wife and Other Stories by Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria)

1990 – The Gunny Sack by M.G Vassanji (Kenya)

1989 – No Selection Made