Sunday Trust arts editor, 8 others long listed for Etisalat prize

Alongside Ibrahim, whose title story was earlier this year shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize for Africa writing, will be eight other authors vying for the 15, 000 pounds prize, five of which are Nigerians.Some of the top contenders are Zimbabwe’s Noviolet Bulawayo with her Booker Prize shortlisted novel, We Need New Names and Chibundu […]

Alongside Ibrahim, whose title story was earlier this year shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize for Africa writing, will be eight other authors vying for the 15, 000 pounds prize, five of which are Nigerians.
Some of the top contenders are Zimbabwe’s Noviolet Bulawayo with her Booker Prize shortlisted novel, We Need New Names and Chibundu Onozu’s celebrated novel, The Spider King’s Daughter among others.
The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first pan-Afrian prize that is open solely to debut fiction writers of African citizenship and was launched in June 2013 and is poised to become one of Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes for African fiction.
The judges for the maiden edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature had as  Chair Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola; Professor at the University of Witwaterstrand ; writer and academic Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Managing Editor of Kwani Trust Billy Kahora.
The judges received entries from across the continent and were faced with the daunting task of selecting the nine books to cross the first hurdle.
“I have never been more in love with the range, depth and wonder that is literature by writers of my continent. There are some writers that I feel really privileged to have discovered through this Prize.” said Pumla Dineo Gqola.
Speaking on the Longlist, Matthew Willsher, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria expressed that the list is unique in several respects and would go a long way in helping to accomplish the purpose of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
“The list of nominees is unique in that six of the nine finalists are books authored by women; five of the nine finalists are Nigerian citizens while the global perspective is covered by the fact that three of the nine publishers are non-African,” he said.
The judges will now be faced with the next task of selecting a short list of three novels at a retreat in Morocco this January. The shortlisted writers who will have 1,000 copies of their books purchased by Etisalat and go on a multi-city sponsored tour  which will be announced on Wednesday, the 15th of January 2014.
The overall winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature will receive £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend an The Etisalat 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 Sunday, the 23rd of February 2014.
The winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature Flash Fiction category, voted for by the public, will also be announced at the award ceremony. The winner of the Flash Fiction Prize will receive £1,000 in cash whilst the two runners up will receive £500.