On Saturday, Penguin Books announced the two inaugural winners of the Penguin Prize for African Writing, though neither of the African writers honored currently live in Africa.
The non-fiction winner is Pius Adesanmi (a Nigerian who now lives in Ottowa, Canada) for You’re Not a Country, Africa!, and the fiction winner is Ellen Banda-Aaku (a Zambia native who now resides in London) for Patchwork.
The award seeks to highlight the diverse writing talent on the African continent and make new African fiction and non-fiction available to a wider readership. It comes with a cash prize and publication by Penguin South Africa.
The shortlist of candidates for the non-fiction prize was: Pius Adesanmi (Nigeria), Andrew Barlow (South Africa), Ruth Carneson (South Africa), Ahmed Mortiar (South Africa), Tanure Ojaide (Nigeria), Anli Serfontein (South Africa) and Tebogo Tlharipe (South Africa).
The shortlist of candidates for the fiction prize was: Ellen Aaku (Zambia), Moraa Gitaa (Kenya), Chika Ezeanya (Nigeria), Shubnum Khan (South Africa), Isabella Morris (South Africa) and Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya).
Non-fiction judges were South African broadcast journalist and columnist Redi Direko; Nic Dawes editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian weekly, and Mail & Guardian Online; and Jonathan Jansen, scholar-in-residence at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Johannesburg.
Fiction judges were Kole Omotoso, director of the Africa Diaspora Research Group based in Johannesburg; Harry Garuba, head of department and associate professor in the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town; and author Elinor Sisulu.
The awards were announced at the Mail & Guardian Festival. The Mail & Guardian is a South African newspaper with its roots in covering the efforts to undermine apartheid.
