In the African Literary Podcast Episode 4, I speak about the Graywolf Press Africa Prize 2018, Hugo Awards, Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2018, The Sunday Times Literary Awards 2018, and the California Book Award 2018. We also preview very cool books to put on your reading list this month. I also feature an interview with South African author Angela Makholwa on her books Red Ink, The Thirtieth Candle, The Black Widow Society which might soon be in a movie theatre near you, and lastly The Blessed Girl.
You can listen to the podcast on either SoundCloud or Anchor below. The notes to the podcast are below these links.
JamesMurua.com nominated for Blogging Award in Kenya
African Literary blog JamesMurua.com has been nominated at the Kenyan Blogger Awards 2018 in the “Best Creative Writing Blog” category. The awards are a big deal in the Kenyan blogging community as it means that you can attract more revenue as the business community considers those who win for advertising deals. So we ask that you vote for us at these awards. I’ll be really grateful.
Currently reading
An Abundance of Scorpions by Hadiza Isma El-Rufai published by Ouida Books
Books to check out
She Called Me Woman: Nigeria’s Queer Women Speak, a ground-breaking collection of 25 first-hand narratives from a cross section of queer Nigerian Women will be out on April 24, 2018. The book edited by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan, and Rafeeat Aliyu is published by Cassava Republic Press.
The Parking Lot Attendant by Ethiopian writer Nafkote Tamirat and published by Macmillan Publishers is now available for your reading pleasure.
Graywolf Press Africa Prize 2018
Kenyan poet Khadija Abdalla Bajaber won the A Igoni Bareett judged Graywolf Press Africa Prize 2018 for her manuscript The House of Rust. She receives a $12,000 advance and her manuscript gets published in English by Graywolf Press and in Italian by 66thand2nd.
Nnedi Okorafor’s two books Binti: Home and Akata Warrior are on the Hugo Awards 2018 shortlist announced on March 31, 2018. Binti: Home is in the running of best novella while Akata Warrior is in the running for the associated award the The World Science Fiction Society Award for Best Young Adult Book. Binti the previous book in the series won the best novella in the same awards in 2016.
The award was established in memory of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the principal architect of United Arab Emirates, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE for over 30 years (1971–2004). There are folks with African passports going home with the prize money of around $200,000 each.
- Egyptian author Ahmad Al Qarmalawi who won the ‘Young Author’ category for his novel Amtar Sayfiyyah (Summer Rains), published by Maktabat al-Dar al-Arabiyah lil-Kitab, Cairo (2017).
- Tunisia’s Néji Elounelli who won the ‘Translation’ Award for his Arabic translation from the work of German author Theodor W. Adorno, Natharayya ‘Astiteeqyya (Ästhetische Theorie), published by Al-Jamal Publications, Beirut (2017).
- Moroccan academic Mohammad Mishbal who won the ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ Award for his work, Fi Balaghat Al Hajjaj: nahwa balagha hajjajiyyah litahleel al khitab (The Rhetoric of Al Hajjaj: Towards a rhetoric inspired by Al Hajjaj in analyzing discourse), published by Kunouz Al Ma’refa Publishers, Amman (2017).
The Sunday Times Literary Awards 2018
This prize started in 1989 is divided into two sections namely the Barry Rouge Fiction Prize and Alan Paton Award for nonfiction.
The longlist for the Barry Rouge Fiction Prize
- The Blessed Girl by Angela Makholwa
- Dancing The Death Drill by Fred Khumalo
- Spire by Fiona Snyckers,
- New Times by Etisalat Prize shortlisted Rehana Rossouw.
- Bird-Monk Seding by Lesego Rampolokeng
- The Last Stop by Thabiso Mofokeng
The longlist for the Alan Paton Award for nonfiction 2018
- Reflecting Rogue: Inside the Mind of a Feminist, Pumla Dineo Gqola
- Being Chris Hani’s Daughter, Lindiwe Hani and Melinda Ferguson
- Democracy and Delusion: 10 Myths in South African Politics, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh
- Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home, Sisonke Msimang
- Khwezi: The Remarkable Story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, Redi Tlhabi
California Book Award 2018 shortlist
Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s novel Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun is on the California Book Award 2018 shortlist.
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