Farai Mudzingwa and Ana Paula Maia are on the shortlist of the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2024 announced on Monday, March 4, 2024.
The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses is an annual British literary prize founded by the author Neil Griffiths. It rewards fiction published by UK and Irish small presses, defined as those with fewer than five full-time employees. The prize which was first handed out in 2017 has been won by among others John Keene, Eley Williams, Will Eaves, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Shola von Reinhold, and Missouri Williams.
The jury for this year is comprised of short story writer and critic Declan O’Driscoll, Deputy and Reviews Editor at Wasafiri magazine Sana Goyal, and award-winning author and journalist Rebecca Abrams. This panel went through the entries of the prize and selected 13 books to be in the longlist on February 5. The shortlist announced on Monday features;
- Avenues by Train, Farai Mudzingwa (Cassava Republic)
When seven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and the death of his close boyhood friend in his hometown Miner’s Drift, he is convinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-out electrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness and superstitions of the small town. But living in the Avenues, he is tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters with ancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful ngozi. To move forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past.
The judges said: “An assured debut. It addresses the objective truth of these lives but also deftly conveys the character’s subjective understanding of the forces that influence their fate.”
- Of Cattle and Men, Ana Paula Maia, translated by Zoe Perry (Charco Press)
In a landscape worthy of Cormac McCarthy, the river runs septic with blood. Edgar Wilson makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of a cow, then stuns it with a mallet. It’s important to calm the cows, especially now that they seem so unsettled. Bronco Gil, the foreman, thinks it’s a jaguar or a wild boar. Edgar Wilson has other suspicions. But what is certain is that there is something in this desolate corner of Brazil driving men, and animals, to murder and madness.
The judges said: “A stunning thriller of sorts. So understated. So powerful. So heartbreaking. Worked for me completely on both the level of a human story and as a warning parable for our times.“
The winners will be revealed in a ceremony in London, UK on April 17.
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