Tag Archives: Burt Award

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Chris Okemwa is Kenyan Burt Award 2015 winner

Chris Okemwa

Chris Okemwa was announced the winner of this years Burt Award 2015 at an invite only ceremony at the Kempinski Nairobi on Friday night. He won the award which is aimed at literature for young adults for his manuscript titled Sabina and the Ogre.

Okemwa isn’t new to the winning game. He was the 2002 Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry, presented by the International Library of Poetry and the 2006 Changamoto Arts Fund award for the performance of his poetry in Secondary Schools in Kenya.

He also has published three collections of poetry: Toxic Love, The Gong. (Nsemia Inc., 2009) and a bilingual (English/French) on-line poetry book, Purgatorius Ignis (Racours Au Poeme, France). Okemwa has a collection of short-stories, Chubot, the Cursed One and Other Stories (2009, Nsemia Inc. Publishers); Riddles of the Abagusii People of Kenya: Gems of Wisdom from the African Continent (Nsemia Inc. 2011); and the oral text, The Proverbs of the Abagusii People of Kenya: Meaning & Application (Nsemia Inc. 2012). His other works include children’s stories: The Village Queen, The Visitor at the Gate, and Let Us Keep Tiger (Paulines Africa).The latter was nominated for Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2011.

Okemwa is an accomplished playwright and performance poet and runs the Kistretch International Poetry Festival.

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Kenyan Burt Award 2014 nominees announced

Prof Henry Indangasi.

The Kenyan short list for the Burt Award for African Literature 2014 was announced at a breakfast today.

The Burt Award for African Literature is an award for fiction targeted at young adults in four African countries; Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania. The award which started in 2012 is sponsored by Code, a Canadian NGO that supports literacy and learning in Canada and around the world. In Kenya the award is managed by the National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK).

The Kenyan winner in 2012 was Anthony Mugo for his book Never Say Never about a young boy who is taken into the approved school system. Last year the nod went to Argwings Otieno for his book A Taste of Fame about a young man and his interaction with celebrities.

The 2014 edition of the prize is here. The judging panel of the awards include some of Kenya’s most well known literary names that include Prof Henry Indangasi – Chair, Dr Waveney Olembo (Kenyatta University) and Dr Tom Odhiambo – University of Nairobi. There is no teenager in the panel which is sad if you consider that this books are targetted at their age group.

The shortlist as announced at a breakfast today include;

  • Moraa Gitaa The Shark Attack, submitted by Moran Publishers.
  • Elizabeth Kibue The Choice, submitted by Longhorn Publishers.
  • Anthony Mugo Ask the Stars, submitted by Longhorn Publishers.

So what do the winners get? Well they will go home with CAD$ 9,000; 7,000 and 5,000 for positions 1, 2 and 3 respectively. With todays exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and the Kenya Shilling being 1 to 77 that means the winners will go with;
1. Kshs693,000
2. Kshs539,000
3. Kshs385,000
Its not only that. The NBDCK will also buy 3,000 of each of the books and require that the publisher pays 17.5% royalties to the writers. Not bad at all.

The winner will be presented on September 2014 during the Book Week at a date to be announced.

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Argwings Otieno wins Burt Award for African literature 2013

Argwings Otieno with a dummy copy of his winning book.

Its been quite the buzz of literary activity in Nairobi of late. The Storymoja came and went rather sadly followed quickly by the Nairobi International Book fair which was as quiet as they got. Then there was the Burt Award which happened last Friday evening at the Silver Springs in Nairobi.

The Burt Award which is in its second year is an award which celebrates folks who have done literary works for young adults while at the same time fostering their love of reading. The award is sponsored by a Canadian philanthropist – Bill Burt – and is extended to the National Book Development Council of Kenya and the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE).

The nominees for the prize were Tony Mochama (Meet the Omtitas), Argwings Otieno (A Taste of Fame) and Erick Livumbazi Ngoda (A Name for Himself).

The winner of that award was Argwings Otieno who goes home with the Kshs700,000 prize money. Second was Erick Livumbazi followed by Tony Mochama as second runner up.