Celestine Nudanu and Brooke C. Obie are the winners of the Accra International Book Festival Awards 2018 announced on January 9, 2019.
The Accra International Book Festival Awards is an initiative alongside the Accra International Book Fair. The awards in their first year were open to writers of any nationality writing in English and French and whose work can reshape the world.
The shortlist to the awards announced on December 27, 2018 featured the work of four women and a man, covering fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. They were divided into the categories of First Book Award Author and Independent Writers Award Author. They were selected by a three-member panel of judges with wide experience in writing, editing, culture, and journalism.
The winners of the awards were announced and they are;
- First Book Award Author: Haiku Rhapsodies (Verses from Ghana) by Celestine Nudanu (Ghana)
According to its Amazon.com description, “Haiku Rhapsodies (Verses from Ghana) explores a field where no Ghanaian poet has ever published in hard print. Hence Celestine Nudanu’s work distinguishes her as a trailblazer among her contemporaries. And most notably Haiku Rhapsodies comes in at the opportune time to answer the world call for haiku to be added to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Haiku Rhapsodies is a finely structured book arranged under the following themes; Afriku, Nature, Haiku My Heart, the Divine and Death.”
- Independent Writers Award Author: Book of Addis: Cradled Embers by Brooke C. Obie (USA).
The book is described on its Amazon page thus; “In this award-winning, epic tale of love, loss and the cost of liberation, 17-year-old Addis escapes from her enslaver, the first president of a young country. On the run for her life, with unlikely friends and a nation of enemies, Addis becomes the most wanted person alive and a global symbol of hope to enslaved people longing for freedom. Written in an 18th Century Black Diasporic vernacular, Book of Addis reaches back in time to explore the intergenerational impact of oppression and plots a daring path into the future.”
The two winners will be given their award in a ceremony later in the year.
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