Africa needs its own Nobel award

Africans take more than solitary trips to the bookstore or even libraries, of which there is a very low density in most parts of the continent. I would like to see more locally-sponsored literary awards. I hate it when our local heroes are crowned by foreigners. I especially detest the Nobel Prize for Literature. Every […]

Africans take more than solitary trips to the bookstore or even libraries, of which there is a very low density in most parts of the continent. I would like to see more locally-sponsored literary awards.

I hate it when our local heroes are crowned by foreigners. I especially detest the Nobel Prize for Literature. Every year, African punters hold their breath hoping that a writer like Ngugi Wa Thiong’o or Assia Djebar will be crowned the new Nobel Laureate and they’re usually disappointed.

In a continent of 1.3 billion people, only four Africans have ever scooped the Nobel Prize for Literature and that’s absurd. Let me say this once more, in case some of your readers think you misquoted me: in my opinion, the Nobel Prize for Literature is irrelevant to Africans.

What we need to do is create our own super award. Sudanese-born philanthropist, Mo Ibrahim, has a foundation that sponsors a $5 million award for good governance. All we need is single billionaire or company to make a long-term commitment to sponsor a major award and we the literati will create an institution of our own.

 

Alexander Nderitu is a Kenyan novelist, poet and playwright.