Brittle Paper Literary Award announces shortlist
Brittle Paper, an online literature space, has announced it first literary award shortlist for a contest it hopes will be annual. Brittle paper, launched the prize to coincide with its seventh anniversary is curated by US-based Nigerian Ainehi Edoro and co-edited by Otosirieze Obi-Young, In a statement that accompanied the shortlist, Brittle paper said, “August […]
Brittle Paper, an online literature space, has announced it first literary award shortlist for a contest it hopes will be annual.
Brittle paper, launched the prize to coincide with its seventh anniversary is curated by US-based Nigerian Ainehi Edoro and co-edited by Otosirieze Obi-Young,
In a statement that accompanied the shortlist, Brittle paper said, “August 1, 2017 was Brittle Paper‘s seventh anniversary. In celebration of this milestone, we are launching the Brittle Paper Literary Awards, an annual award that recognizes the finest, original pieces of African writing published online.”
The award which is in five categories is based on original works published online.
“The shortlists are a result of months of meticulous hard work. The selections were made based on quality, significance, and impact. In this, we considered only works that are available online for free. For the fiction, poetry, nonfiction and essays/think pieces categories, we considered works published between 1 January, 2016 and 31 July, 2017. For our anniversary award, our consideration was limited to between 1 August, 2016 and 31 July, 2017,” Edoro said.
On how they arrived at the longlist, Edoro said, “While we sought recommendations from folks in the community, we-my co-editor, Otosirieze Obi-Young, and I-mostly depended on our knowledge as curators of African literary production, knowledge from monitoring the African literary scene closely, and from observing how much impact these writings have had on individuals and online communities. Each of our picks reflects, in its own unique way, what is exciting about African literary culture in the digital/social media space. Some have been read and shared widely on social media. All have kindled and rekindled important conversations and debates, or have identified and built on areas still under-explored.”
The works shortlisted in the various categories are:
THE BRITTLE PAPER AWARD FOR FICTION ($200)
A Door Ajar by Sibongile Fisher, Short Story Day Africa: Migrations (South Africa):
A Short History of Zaka the Zulu by Petina Gappah, The New Yorker (Zimbabwe)
God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu, A Public Space (Nigeria)
Ships in High Transit by Binyavanga Wainaina, Expound (Kenya)
Triptych: Texas Pool Party by Namwali Serpell, Triple Canopy (Zambia)
Farang by Megan Ross, Short Story Day Africa: Migrations (South Africa)
Squad by Linda Musita, Enkare Review (Kenya)
Tea by TJ Benson, Short Story Day Africa: Migrations (Nigeria)
The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Jalada (Kenya)
Beautiful by Helon Habila, Adda (Nigeria)
THE BRITTLE PAPER AWARD FOR POETRY ($200)
Pythagoras Theorem by Nick Makoha, Adda (Uganda)
Application for Asylum by Safia Elhillo, Frontier Poetry (Sudan)
Credo to Leave by JK Anowe, Expound (Nigeria)
Your Body Is War by Mahtem Shiferraw, Hermeneutic Chaos Journal (Ethiopia / Eritrea)
A Series of Solitudes by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Enkare Review (DR Congo)
How to Paint a Girl by Gbenga Adesina, The New York Times Magazine (Nigeria)
Water by Koleka Putuma, PEN South Africa (South Africa)
I Ask My Brother Jonathan to Write about Oakland, and He Describes His Room by Yalie Kamara, African Poetry Prize (Sierra Leone / USA)
Metamorphosis by Romeo Oriogun, Brittle Paper (Nigeria)
The Colour of James Brown’s Scream by Kayo Chingonyi, African Poetry Prize (Zambia/UK)
THE BRITTLE PAPER AWARD FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION/MEMOIR ($200)
Africa’s Future Has No Space for Stupid Black Men by Pwaanguloongi Dauod, Granta (Nigeria)
Working the City by Bernard Matambo, Transition (Zimbabwe)
How it Ends by Troy Onyango, The Magunga (Kenya)
Out of Europe-Traveling with the Caine Prize in Germany by Rotimi Babatunde, Caine Prize Blog (Nigeria)
Fugee by Hawa Jande Golakai, Safe House/Granta (Liberia)
Naijographia by Bethuel Muthee, Enkare Review (Kenya)
Uniben Boy in Berlin by Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, Brittle Paper (Nigeria)
Since Everything Was Suddening into a Hurricane by Binyavanga Wainaina, Granta (Kenya)
THE BRITTLE PAPER AWARD FOR ESSAYS/THINK PIECES ($200)
Penpoints, Gunpoints, and Dreams: A History of Creative Writing Instruction in East Africa by Billy Kahora, Chimurenga (Kenya)
In the Shadow of Context by Kola Tubosun, Enkare Review (Nigeria)
Poverty Porn: A New Prison for African Writers by Richard Oduor Oduku,
An Architect of Dreams: On Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross by Tope Folarin, Los Angeles Review of Books (Nigeria)
When We Talk about Kintu by Ellah Allfrey, Brittle Paper (Zimbabwe / UK)
Writes of Passage, an Urban Memoir: How a Pan-African Journal and American Glossies Put Bongani Madondo on the Write Path by Bongani Madondo, The Johannesburg Review of Books (South Africa)
The Labours of the Months: Of Work and Its Refuseniks by Rotimi Babatunde, Praxis (Nigeria)
All Your Faves Are Problematic: A Brief History of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Stanning, and #BlackGirlMagic by Sisonke Msimang, Africa Is a Country (South Africa)
THE BRITTLE PAPER ANNIVERSARY AWARD ($300)
For a work published on Brittle Paper that embodies our vision of the dynamism of literature.
Love Is Not Apolitical,” Andile Ndlovu, fiction (South Africa)
Because Your Body Took the Wrong Way Home by Wale Owoade, poetry (Nigeria)
Schoolyard Cannibal by Nana Nkweti, prose-poetry (Cameroon)
We’re Queer, We’re Here by Chibuihe Obi, essay (Nigeria)
The Weight of Silence by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, fiction (Nigeria)
Gay Wars: The Battle of the Bitches (or The Tops and Bottoms of Being Out in Nigeria) by Rapum Kambili, essay (Nigeria)
You Sing of a Leaving by JK Anowe, poetry (Nigeria)
Not Guilty by Abifatah Shafat, fiction (Somalia)
Nwangene by Nzube Ifechukwu, creative nonfiction (Nigeria)
Kampala Love Spell (A Westerner’s Preparation) by A. Awosanya, poetry (Uganda/ Nigeria/ USA)
How to Buy a Soul by Michael E. Umoh, fiction (Nigeria)
The Fear of Tomorrow by Yejide Kilanko, fiction (Nigeria)