Resoketswe Manenzhe and Frances Ogamba are the winners of the Writivism Short Story Prize 2019 and Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize 2019 announced in Kampala, Uganda on August 18, 2019.
Writivism, the project of writing as activism, was started by Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, Naseemah Mohamed and Kyomuhendo A Ateenyi of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence in Kampala, Uganda in 2012. The initiative that works to build the capacity for writing on the continent includes the Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize. The longlists for the two prizes this year were announced on March 25 before the shortlists were announced on May 20, 2019. The winners of the two prizes have been announced at the end of the Writivism Festival that wrapped up in the Ugandan capital today.
Writivism Short Story Prize 2019
The Writivism Short Story Prize has been showcasing some of the best fiction writing since 2013. Previous winners have been Mbogo Ireri (2018), Munachim Amah (2017), Acan Innocent (2016), Pemi Aguda (2015), Saaleha Idrees Bamjee (2014), and Anthea Paelo (2013).
The Writivism Short Story Prize winner was selected from 387 entries by a team of three judges chaired by Ugandan novelist and short story writer, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. The other judges were Zimbabwean writer and editor, Emmanuel Sigauke and Ghanaian publisher, blogger and activist, Kinna Likimani.
The winning story is Maserumo by Resoketswe Manenzhe, a PhD candidate with the chemical engineering department at the University of Cape Town. Starting in 2015, her poems and short stories have appeared in several online magazines and journals, and in 2017, two of her poems were shortlisted for the Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Anthology, and subsequently published in the anthology of selected poems.
Read an interview of Resoketswe Manenzhe at our friends at Africa In Dialogue.
Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize
The Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize named after Ghanaian national Nana Koffi Addo, focuses on nonfiction. It has been won by Ghanaian S.Y Tetteh (2016), South African Charles King (2017), and Zambian Chisanga Mukuka (2018).
The winner in this category was selected from 117 entries by a team of three judges chaired by Ghanaian novelist Ayesha Harruna Attah. The other judges are South African novelist, memoirist, poet and short story writer, Karen Jennings and Kenyan academic Dr Christopher Ouma.
The winning story is The Valley of Memories by Frances Ogamba who incidentally was also shortlisted for the Writivism Short Story Prize this year. Ogamba’s stories appear in Afridiaspora and the Writivism digital mini-anthology, Dwartonline and Ynaija websites, and on Enkare Review. She is a workshop alumnus of Writivism 2016, Ake fiction 2016, and Winter Tangerine 2016.
Read an interview with Frances Ogamba at our friends at Africa In Dialogue.
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