Celebrated
fastest growing telecommunications services company, Etisalat Nigeria, has
given the names of the winners of its inaugural edition of the Etisalat Prize
for Literature, ITRealms reports.
The
Prize launched in June 2013, ITRealms gathered is the first pan-African prize that is open solely
to debut fiction writers of African citizenship and poised to become one of
Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes for African fiction.
The longlist made available to ITRealms in
alphabetical order includes Bom boy by Yewande
Omotoso, Daughters Who Walk This Path
by Yejide Kilanko, Finding Soutbek by Karen Jennings, Sarah House by Ifeanyi Ajaegbo,
The Great Agony And Pure Laughter Of The Gods by Jamala Safari’s, The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu
Onuzo, The Spiral House by Claire
Robertson, The Whispering Trees by Abubakar
Adam Ibrahim, and We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo,
The
judges for the maiden edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature included Chair
of Judges, Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola; Professor at the University of Witwaterstrand,
South Africa; writer and academic Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Managing Editor of
Kwani Trust, Billy Kahora.
The
judges as gathered by ITRealms, received entries from across the continent and were faced
with the daunting task of selecting the nine books to cross the first hurdle.
For
Pumla Dineo Gqola, he had never been more in love with the range, depth and
wonder that is literature, by writers in this continent.
“There
are some writers that I feel really privileged to have discovered through this
Prize," he said.
Also
speaking, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr Matthew
Willsher, said that the list is unique in several respects and would go a long
way in helping to accomplish the purpose of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
“The
list of nominees is unique in that six of the nine finalists are books authored
by women; five of the nine finalists are Nigerian citizens while the global
perspective is covered by the fact that three of the nine publishers are
non-African,” he said.
The judges will be faced with the next task of
selecting a short list of three novels at a retreat in Morocco in January. The
shortlisted writers who will have 1,000 copies of their books purchased by
Etisalat and go on a multi-city sponsored tour will be announced on Wednesday
the 15th of January 2014.
The overall winner of the Etisalat Prize for
Literature will receive £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend an Etisalat sponsored
fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor
Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland.
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