Category Archives: Zambia Literature

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Namwali Serpell wins Caine Prize 2015 (shocks everyone)

Namwali Serpwell

Namwali Serpell is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2015. The Zambian was given the prize for her short story entitled The Sack from Africa39 (Bloomsbury, London, 2014) at a ceremony held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England last night.

So what is The Sack about? The Chair of Judges Zoë Wicomb said, “The Sack” explores a world where dreams and reality are both claustrophobic and dark. The relationship between two men and an absent woman are explored though troubled interactions and power relationships which jar with the views held by the characters.”

On my own part? I have no flipping idea. Seriously. There’s like two dudes, one person called J and another called the man. Then there is a boy. There is burning of a chicken coop at one point. And there is a knife. The author describes it as a “strange story” and I concur with her completely.

So what does she get for her efforts? She gets to take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. She also takes part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, Storymoja in Nairobi and Ake Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Not bad. Also she got herself 10,000 UK pounds. To the surprise of everyone who is African, the writer announced that she will be sharing the prize with all of her fellow shortlistees. They were to get 500 UK pounds but it looks they will be leaving a bit richer than they anticipated.

Speaking to the BBC in an interview the writer who was very happy to win it said on sharing it, “It was an act of mutiny for me. I wanted to change the structure of the prize because I felt that for the writers its very awkward to be placed in this position of competition with other writers that you respect immensely in this American Idol or race horse situation when actually you want to support each other.”

This is not the first time the winner of the prize has been sufficiently philanthropic with the prize money. 2002 winner Binyavanga Wainaina famously used his prize to set up literary juggernaut Kwani Trust when he was announced the winner.

Last year the Caine Prize was won by Kenyan writer Okwiri Oduor.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

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Caine Prize for African Writing winner announced tonight

Masande Ntshanga

Its that day ladies and gentlemen. Tonight The Caine Prize for African Writing will be announcing its sixteenth winning writer at a kick ass dinner at Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries. The Caine Prize is named in celebration of the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc, who was Chairman of the ‘Africa 95′ arts festival in Europe and Africa in 1995 and for nearly 25 years Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee. It is the most followed writing competition on the continent today.

This event is happening just after the Africa Writes event that has been going on in England. For more information about Africa Writes try http://africawrites.org/ or our friends at Bookshy with Next Weekend in London: Africa Writes 2015, African Literature and Literary Magazines and What are your Africans Books to Inspire?

Now this years Caine Prize winner shall receive £10,000, the same amount of money that was given for the prize 15 years ago which kinda sucks if you consider inflation. Apart from the fact that the Caine Prize doesn’t take inflation into its calculations, the winners will be announced by the chair of judges and award-winning South African writer, Zoë Wicomb. The people on the shortlist include;

· Segun Afolabi (Nigeria) for “The Folded Leaf” in Wasafiri (Wasafiri, London, 2014)
Caine Prize winner 2005 for “Monday Morning”
Read “The Folded Leaf”

· Elnathan John (Nigeria) for “Flying” in Per Contra (Per Contra, International, 2014)
Shortlisted in 2013 for “Bayan Layi”
Read “Flying”

· F. T. Kola (South Africa) for “A Party for the Colonel” in One Story (One Story, inc. Brooklyn, New York City, 2014)
Read “A Party for the Colonel”

· Masande Ntshanga (South Africa) for “Space” in Twenty in 20 (Times Media, South Africa, 2014)
Read “Space”

· Namwali Serpell (Zambia) for “The Sack” in Africa39 (Bloomsbury, London, 2014)
Shortlisted in 2010 for “Muzungu”
Read “The Sack”

What is an award ceremony without a little bit of controversy. This year it stems from the good people at The Guardian. Recently they went and published an article by Chimamanda Adichie without her permission which they apologised profusely. This time round they went and picked up the words of Namwali Serpell for one of their pieces without their permission. You can fine the article on her blog here.

So who’s going to win this one? I’m going out on a limb and putting my money on South African Masande Ntshanga. He emerged in 2013 when he won the PEN International New Voices award and has been doing big things since.

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Images from the Caine Prize Workshop 2015 in Ghana

Caine Prize workshop 2015 participants

The Caine Prize workshop gives aspiring writers two weeks to create and finish a story under the guidance of experiences writers and occurs in a different African country every year. This year the workshop was in Elmina, Ghana in April and was facilitated by first Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela and Zukiswa Wanner. Elmina is famous as a slave port from the 15th Century and also a former capital of the then Gold Coast.

The participants were: Diane Awerbuck (South Africa), Efemia Chela (Zambia/Ghana), Onipede Hollist (Sierra Leone), Dalle Abraham (Kenya), Nkiacha Atemnkeng (Cameroon), Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria), Timothy Kiprop Kimutai (Kenya), Jonathan Mbuna (Malawi) and Jonathan Dotse, Jemila Abdulai, Aisha Nelson and Nana Nyarko Boateng (Ghana).

In addition to crafting their stories, the writers also got to take in the sights of the coastal town. They were also lucky to meet world famous Ghanaian novelist and poet Kojo Laing. Laing’s books include Search Sweet Country (1986), Woman of the Aeroplanes (1988) and the more recent one Big Bishop Roko and the Altar Gangsters (2006).

Here are a few images from the events at Elmina last month courtesy of workshop participants.

P.S. You should read this brilliant review of the event by cameroonian Nkiacha Atemnkeng; My experience at the 2015 Caine Prize Writers Workshop in Ghana

Akwaeke Emezi

Leila Aboulela

Caine Prize’s Lizzy Attree with Ghanaian poet and novelist Kojo Laing

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Caine Prize for African writing 2015 shortlist announced

Zambian Namwali Serpell in the running

The five writer shortlist for the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced by Chair of judges, award-winning South African writer Zoë Wicomb. They are Namwali Serpell (Zambia), South Africans Masande Ntshanga and F. T. Kola (South Africa), Nigerians Elnathan John and Segun Afolabi.

The Chair of judges, Zoë Wicomb described the shortlist as, “an exciting crop of well-crafted stories. Above all, these stories speak of the pleasure of reading fiction. It will be no easy task to settle on a winner.”

Each shortlisted writer receives £500 and the winner of the £10,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony and dinner at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, on Monday 6 July.

The 2015 shortlist and their stories include:

  • Segun Afolabi (Nigeria) for “The Folded Leaf” in Wasafiri (Wasafiri, London, 2014)
    Caine Prize winner 2005 for “Monday Morning”
    Read “The Folded Leaf”
  • Elnathan John (Nigeria) for “Flying” in Per Contra (Per Contra, International, 2014)
    Shortlisted in 2013 for “Bayan Layi”
    Read “Flying”
  • F. T. Kola (South Africa) for “A Party for the Colonel” in One Story (One Story, inc. Brooklyn, New York City, 2014)
    Read “A Party for the Colonel”
  • Masande Ntshanga (South Africa) for “Space” in Twenty in 20 (Times Media, South Africa, 2014)
    Read “Space”
  • Namwali Serpell (Zambia) for “The Sack” in Africa39 (Bloomsbury, London, 2014)
    Shortlisted in 2010 for “Muzungu”
    Read “The Sack”

Each of these stories will be published in New Internationalist’s Caine Prize 2015 Anthology in July and through co-publishers across Africa, who receive a print ready PDF free of charge from New Internationalist.

It is set to be an almighty battle between South Africa and Nigeria with the solitary Zambian in the middle observing matters. Elnathan John isn’t exactly unknown in African literature circles as he has been at the centre of the Boygate scandal involving Chimamanda Adichie. On the South African side Masande Ntshanga was the winner of the PEN International’s inaugural New Voices Award in 2013.

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Zambia’s Dambisa Moyo joins FT/McKinsey book prize judges

Dambisa Moyo

Zambian Dambisa Moyo became famous when she wrote Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa, a book arguing that aid harmed Africa and that it should be phased out. Since then she has written two more books; How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – And the Stark Choices that Lie Ahead and Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World.

The international economist who analyses the macroeconomy, foreign aid impact, and global affairs is now one of the judges of the £30,000 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. She had joined alongside co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman.

The FT/McKinsey is aimed at a book that provides “the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues”. Last year’s winner was Capital in the Twenty-First Century , Thomas Piketty’s controversial analysis of the causes and consequences of economic inequality.

Other judges in the award team chaired by Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times are Mohamed El-Erian, chairman of President Barack Obama’s Global Development Council, who won the 2008 award with his book When Markets Collide; Herminia Ibarra, professor of leadership at Insead, and author of the recently published book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader; Rik Kirkland, McKinsey’s director of publishing and Shriti Vadera chairman of Santander UK, the bank.

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Twelve writers for Caine Prize workshop 2015 in Ghana

Leila Aboulela

The Caine Prize workshop is one of those events that come along once a year. In these workshops which have been happening since 2003, writers who were shortlisted for the Caine Prize in the previous year are joined by other promising writers. They are mentored by experienced writers on the craft of writing. The workshops have been attended by some of the biggest names in the African literature business as it is now constituted. Last year we shared some of the action from Zimbabwe where the workshop was held.

This years Caine Prize workshop is upon us and will be happening from tomorrow in Ghana as earlier mentioned. The twelve writers who are now converging on Ghana are Diane Awerbuck (South Africa) and Efemia Chela (Zambia/Ghana) who were shortlisted for the 2014 prize, Onipede Hollist (Sierra Leona) who was shortlisted in 2013, and nine other promising writers, Dalle Abraham (Kenya), Nkiacha Atemnkeng (Cameroon), Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria), Timothy Kiprop Kimutai (Kenya), Jonathan Mbuna (Malawi), and Jonathan Dotse, Jemila Abdulai, Aisha Nelson and Nana Nyarko Boateng (Ghana). They will be learning from Leila Aboulela, who is a Sudanese author and winner of the inaugural Caine Prize in 1999 and Zukiswa Wanner, a South African novelist and journalist.

They will be chilling out at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Elmina for thirteen days from tomorrow until 18th April – the lucky buggers. They will also get to visit to local senior and junior schools in the Elmina/Cape Coast area, offering students an opportunity to meet the writers and exchange ideas about writing and literature.

It won’t be all fun and games though. They will be expected to write a story that will be used in the 2015 Caine Prize anthology, which will be published by New Internationalist on 1 July 2015. Good luck with that guys.

This years events in Ghana have been supported by Prudential plc, one of the world’s leading financial services groups, and Groupe Nduom, a family business group of Ghanaian and American origin operating in the financial, hospitality, media and other industries.

Prudential Africa CEO Matt Lilley

Speaking on the support for the award, the CEO of Prudential Africa Matt Lilley, said: “I am delighted that Prudential Africa is working with the Caine Prize to promote the richness and diversity of African writing in English. Prudential Africa is committed to investing in education and we look forward to working with the Caine Prize to nurture and inspire the next generation of writers.”

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A smashing Writivism 2014

Parrésia authors Richard Ali and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim with Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa), Ellah Allfrey (Zimbabwe), Otieno Owino (Kenya) and Vimbai Shire (Zimbabwe) Photo/PARRESIA

The last week saw one of the biggest gatherings of African writers on this continent of ours for a long while as the Writivism Festival 2014 rolled into Kampala, Uganda.

There were also writing master classes, panels, speeches and all variety of talks from Ellen Banda-Aaku, Samuel Kolawole, Zukiswa Wanner, literary agent David Godwin, Ella Allfrey, Charles Batambuze, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Julius Ocwinyo, David Kaiza, Laura Byaruhanga, Melissa Kiguwa, Moses Serubiri, Ayikwei Nii Parkes, Beverly Nambozo Nsengiyunva and Noviolet Bulawayo. Please note that this list is not conclusive.

The festival also saw the launch of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi‘s ‘Kintu‘ novel as well as the opportunity for guests to attend a book signing at ARISTOC, Garden City with for well known writers NoViolet Bulawayo, Chika Unigwe, Zukiswa Wanner, Ayikwei Nii Parkes, Jennifer Makumbi and their books.

There also a Google Hangout with Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Nii Ayikwei Parks with this blog for those who couldn’t make it to Kampala that you can view here. Apologies for the dodgy audio.

The week long festival wasn’t just for the literature diehards as there were plays, poetry performance s, traditional dance displays, sketch comedy and screenings of movies. Also on offer was an exhibition of Jimmy Spire Ssentongo‘s newspaper cartoons.The event coincided with World Music Day so there were performances by at the Gardens organised by the Alliance Francaise, Bayimba .

Alongside this all this action was a market for arts and crafts dealers, book distributors, publishers and sellers, service providers and fashion houses.

The highlight (Swaleh Mdoe would say “kilele cha sherehe”) was The Writivism Short Story Panel and Winners’ Announcement where Saaleha Idrees Bamjee was selected as Writivism winner for this year.

>> Related links:: African Author discuss Writivism – Video.

:: On Yesterday at #Writivism in #Kampala – Richard Ali’s blog

:: On My #Kampalan Hoard – Richard Ali’s blog

:: David Godwin on being a literary agent and what kind of book he is looking for – So Many Stories

:: Hashtag JenniferMakumbi! Hashtag Winning! – So many stories.

:: Days 1 and 2, Writivism 2014, Kampala – Saaleha.com