Emmanuel Ukudolo
December 14, 2015 – Telecommunications giant, Etisalat Nigeria Limited, this evening announced three books to vie for the coveted Etisalat Prize for Literature.
The three books are TRAM 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, ANNA P by Penny Busetto and WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY, by Rehana Rossouw. The winner due to be announced in March, 2016 will go home with £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, under the mentorship of Professor Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland.
Besides, the winner will have an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück special pen.
However, it is a win-win for all shortlisted, as Etisalat is taking them on a sponsored multi-city book tour.
Etisalat will also purchase 1 000 copies of each of the author’s work for distribution to schools, libraries and book clubs across Africa. Ironically, Nigeria is missing out for the third time. The 2016 shortlist has two South Africans and one Congolese, Fiston Mwanza Mujila.
Speaking on the shortlist, the chair Judge Professor Ato Quayson said the three were picked for ‘the variety of styles exhibited in their writing and subject matter treated.
“This year’s Etisalat Prize for Literature shortlist reveal the vitality of contemporary African literature. They contribute to our understanding of what it is to love, to laugh, to improvise, sometimes to despair, to know and yet be fooled by the assurance of such knowledge, to work for our ablution in the fate of another’s suffering, and ultimately to embrace life in all its bewildering complexities, ”Quayson said.
For Judge Molara Wood, the shortlisted books challenge ready notions about new writing from Africa. “They expand the field of literary engagement with themes of nationhood and the self. These are highly original voices whose works will charm and astonish new readers, through the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and deservedly so,” he said.
The third member of the panel, Zukiswa Wanner said the shortlist showcases the varied voices emerging on the African literary scene, bringing something beautiful and unique to the reading experience,” he explained.
Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo won the inaugural Etisalat Prize for his work, We Need New Names in 2013, and South African Songeziwe Mahlangu won the 2014 edition with the piece Penumbra.
