ZIMBABWEAN upcoming author Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s collection of short stories – Shadows – has been nominated for the 2014 Etilsat Prize for Literature.
The prize launched last year is the first pan-African prize that is only open to debut African fiction writers.
Tsholotsho born rising author No Violet Bulawayo won the inaugural prize with her novel We Need New Names.
This year’s list includes An Imperfect Blessing by Nadia Davids, Whoever Fears the Sea by Justin Fox, The Thunder that Roars by Imran Garda, Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu, Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Fresh Air and other stories by Reward Nsirim, Happiness Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta and Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi.
The shortlisted writers who will have 1 000 copies of their books purchased by Etisalat and go on a multi-city sponsored tour will be announced on December 8.
The overall winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature will receive £15 000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend an Etisalat sponsored fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland.
The winner will be announced at the Etisalat Prize for Literature award ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria on February 22, 2015.
Tshuma’s Shadows was published by Kwela in South Africa last year.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
According to her biography online,Shadows, a winner of the 2014 Herman Charles Bosman Prize, has been described as “an impressive and important debut”.
In 2009, she left Zimbabwe for South Africa, where she went on to study towards a Bcom in Economics and Finance at the University of Witwatersrand. She won the 2009 Intwasa Short Story Award, now known as the Yvonne Vera Award, for her short story You In Paradise, having been shortlisted for the award the previous year.
She has been a participant in both the Caine Prize and Farafina Trust Writing Workshops (2010), as well as the Kenya Literary Week hosted by UK’s Granta Literary Magazine, Kwani Trust and the British Council (2013).
Her short fiction has been featured in anthologies which include A Life in Full and Other Stories: Caine Prize Anthology (New Internationalist, UK 2010) , Bed Book of Short Stories (Modjaji Books, South Africa 2010) and Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe (‘amaBooks, Zimbabwe 2011, Parthian Books, UK 2012). She was shortlisted for the 2012 Zimbabwe Achievers Literature Award for her short story Doctor S. Bookslive/novuyotshuma. —wordpress.com
