The judges for the Writivism Short Story Prize 2019 and the Koffi Addo Prize for Nonfiction 2019 were announced on December 5, 2018.
Writivism is an organisation that does activities around the writing ecosystem. Based out of a Kampala, Uganda headquarters, the organisation organises a literary festival, an annual writing competition, mentoring for young writers as well as publishing an anthology every year.
The annual writing competitions are for fiction which is called the Writivism Short Story Prize and for nonfiction which is called the Kofi Addo Prize for Non Fiction.
The Writivism Short Story Prize 2019.
The Writivism Short Story Prize celebrates writers from the African continent from the last year. The award has winners going home with a cash prize and more literary goodies. Previous winners include Mbogo Ireri in 2018, Munachim Amah in 2017, Acan Innocent in 2016, Pemi Aguda in 2015, Saaleha Idrees Bamjee in 2014, and Anthea Paelo in 2013.
The judges for the Writivism Short Story Prize 2019 are Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi who is the chair with support from Emmanuel Sigauke, and Kinna Likimani. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a multiple award-winning novelist and short story writer who has won among other prizes the Kwani? Manuscript Project, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction.
Emmanuel Sigauke has been published in poetry and fiction anthologies, and his collection of short stories, Mukoma’s Marriage and other Stories, was a finalist in the 2015 NAMA awards, Zimbabwe. In 2015 he coedited Roses for Betty and other Stories, published by the Centre for African Cultural Excellence and is the sole editor for Sundown and other stories, the 2016 Writivism Annual anthology and Transcending the Flame, the 2018 Writivism mentoring anthology. He has edited various other anthologies, notably the African Roar series.
Kinna Likimani is the founder of Nsona Books which publishes fiction by emerging writers in Ghana. Her literary blog Kinna Reads, is one of the go-to locations online for dialogue on African literature. In 2012, she began an online based literacy challenge – the Africa Reading Challenge – which encourages participants to read, discover and discuss African literature for one year.
The Kofi Addo Prize for Non Fiction 2019.
The Kofi Addo Prize for Non Fiction was started in honour of Ghanaian national Nana Kofi Addo who passed on in 2011. Previous winners of the prize are Chisanga Mukuka in 2018, Charles King in 2017, and S.Y. Tetteh in 2016. The Kofi Addo Prize for nonfiction 2019 jury will be chaired by Ayesha Harruna Attah with support from Karen Jennings, and Dr Christopher Ouma.
Ayesha Harruna Attah’s writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Asymptote Magazine, and the Caine Prize Writers’ Anthology. Her debut novel, Harmattan Rain was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her second novel, Saturday’s Shadows, was published in English and Dutch. In 2016 she was awarded the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship the result of which was her latest novel The Hundred Wells of Salaga.
Karen Jennings’ debut novel, Finding Soutbek, was shortlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature. In 2014, her short story collection, Away from the Dead, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her memoir, Travels with my Father, was published in 2016 and her poetry collection Space Inhabited by Echoes came out in 2018. In 2019 her new novel Upturned Earth will be published.
Christopher Ouma holds a Doctorate from the Department of African Literature at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Cape Town. His research and teaching interests include the broader field of contemporary African and African Diasporic literary and cultural production. He has coedited The Spoken Word Project: Stories Traveling through Africa, and recently coedited a special issue of The Black Scholar titled “After Madiba: Black Studies in South Africa.” He is coeditor of the Journal Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies.
Unpublished writers who live in any African country can submit their short fiction and creative nonfiction for the 2019 Writivism and Koffi Addo prizes until December 31, 2018. Find the submission guidelines here.
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