Africa’s Namwali Serpell wins Windham-Campbell 2020 Prize

Africa’s Namwali Serpell has won the Windham-Campbell Prize 2020, alongside seven other writers across the globe. This was announced in a ceremony on March 19 in London, UK. Serpell said of her win, “I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this award and honoured to join the company of these esteemed writers. The Windham-Campbell Prize has proven […]

Africa’s Namwali Serpell has won the Windham-Campbell Prize 2020, alongside seven other writers across the globe. This was announced in a ceremony on March 19 in London, UK.

Serpell said of her win, “I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this award and honoured to join the company of these esteemed writers. The Windham-Campbell Prize has proven unique in celebrating writing from Africa based solely on its literary achievement; it’s deeply gratifying to be taken seriously as an artist.”

Other recipients of the prize in a variety of artistic disciplines include Maria Tumarkin (Australia), Aleshea Harris (United States) Yiyun Li (United States), Bhanu Kapil (US/UK), Anne Boyer (United States), Jonah Mixon-Webster (United States), and Julia Cho (United States).

The Windham-Campbell Prize was established with a gift from the late Donald Windham in memory of his partner of 40 years, Sandy M. Campbell in 2013.  English language writers from anywhere in the world are nominated confidentially and judged anonymously for the prize worth US$165,000. It is administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and the Manuscript Library at Yale University. Nigeria’s Helon Habila and Teju Cole won the award in 2015.