We have a winner or rather a list of winners for the Winham Campbell Prize 2015. And just like last year when Aminatta Forna was feted, there is an African on the list. In fact this year there are three; Teju Cole, Helon Habila, and Ivan Vladislavić all who are writers of fiction. The first two are Nigerian and the latter is South African.
The prizes were announced by Peter Salovey, the 23rd president of Yale University, at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library yesterday. They will be receiving their prizes at a ceremony and literary festival at Yale from 28 September to 1 October 2015.
Teju Cole is well known here in Kenya for his stints at both the Storymoja Festival in 2013 and 2014. He also has two books to his name Open City (My review) and Every Day is for the Thief.
Habila hasn’t come to Storymoja yet but it’s only a matter of time, right? His books include Waiting for an Angel: A Novel (2004), Penguin Books, New Writing 14, (2006) Granta Books. (co-edited with Lavinia Greenlaw), Measuring Time: A Novel (2007), W. W. Norton, Dreams, Miracles, and Jazz: An Anthology of New Africa Fiction (2007) and Pan Macmillan (co-edited with Kadija George) Oil on Water: A Novel (2010), Hamish Hamilton. He is also the guy behind Parresia Publishers which has an imprint that introduced a crime fiction contest that gave us Blessing Musariri.
Ivan Vladislavić is a South African short story writer and novelist of Croatian origin. You can find out more about him here.
So how much will they be going home with at the festival? The recipients, chosen for fiction, nonfiction, and drama, each receive $150,000 in unrestricted grants.
Congratulations y’all.
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