Bookalleria: May 2013

Sunday, May 26, 2013

E.E. Sule Wins Commonwealth Book Prize for Africa

E.E Sule.

Dr. Sule E. Egya writing under the pen name of "E.E. Sule" is among the regional winners of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize for his first novel Sterile Sky.

The coming of age story of the gifted young Murtala who had to confront the horrors of the violent riots and the woes of his family in Kano.
Stalked by monsters real and imagined, desperate to preserve a sense of self and the future, Murtala hunts for answers in the wreckage of the city – and gives us a unique insight into modern life in northern Nigeria.

Sule is an Associate Professor in Department of English at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria. Besides published academic work and essays, Dr.Egya is the author of the short story collections Impotent Heavens and Dream and Shame, and the poetry volumes Naked Sun, Knifing Tongues and What the Sea Told Me. His poems, short stories, and critical work have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies and literary magazines. Sterile Sky is his first novel.

“This is great news for me! I’m bursting with excitement! I consider it a milestone in my career as a writer – that moment you think you have got a needed impetus, in fact a revelation, to perform better, to aim higher. I also feel confident that Sterile Sky is a worthy work; it has begun its own journey in life. I sincerely thank everyone involved in making it what it is,” Sule exclaimed as he received the good news of his prize.

Press release

The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the regional winners for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Representing Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific regions, these writers will now
compete to become the overall winner, to be announced at Hay Festival UK on 31 May.

The Commonwealth Book Prize is awarded for the best first novel, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the best piece of unpublished short fiction.

Part of Commonwealth Writers, the prizes unearth, develop and promote the best of new writing from across the Commonwealth, developing literary connections worldwide and consistently bringing less-heard voices to the fore. The cultural breadth of stories from this year’s regional winners includes Sri Lanka on the eve of independence from
British Colonial rule, the Socialist regime of 1970s Jamaica, and a South Africa riven by apartheid.

Commonwealth Book Prize

Regional Winner, Africa

Sterile Sky, E.E. Sule (Nigeria), Pearson Education

Regional Winner, Asia

Island of a Thousand Mirrors, Nayomi Munaweera (Sri Lanka), Perera-Hussein Publishing House

Regional Winner, Canada & Europe

The Death of Bees, Lisa O’Donnell (United Kingdom), William Heinemann

Regional Winner, Caribbean

Disposable People, Ezekel Alan (Jamaica), self-published.

Regional Winner, Pacific

The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Australia), Affirm Press

Commenting on the winners, Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize, Godfrey Smith said:
“Choosing the regional winners from among the 21
shortlisted books was a rewarding journey across diverse cultures,
through soaring – sometimes shocking – imaginations, movingly connecting
us with a fascinating range of human situations. The five regional
winners are an impressive mixture of bold, ambitious, powerfully
descriptive and emotionally riveting writing that will leave us with a
deeper appreciation and understanding of our world.”

Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Regional Winner, Africa

“The New Customers”, Julian Jackson (South Africa)

Regional Winner, Asia

“The Sarong-Man in the Old House, and an Incubus for a Rainy Night”, Michael Mendis (Sri Lanka)

Regional Winner, Canada & Europe

“We Walked On Water”, Eliza Robertson (Canada)

Regional Winner, Caribbean

“The Whale House”, Sharon Millar (Trinidad and Tobago)

Regional Winner, Pacific

“Things with Faces”, Zoë Meager (New Zealand)

Chair of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Razia Iqbal said, “The short story is among the hardest forms to master. The five stories we chose as regional winners all pass the judges’ tests of capturing a distinctive tone; creating fulsome characters; always deft in showing, not telling; subject matter both intimate and personal, as well as ranging across political landscapes. Reading them will transport you, as
all good literature does, and introduce you to voices we are sure you will hear again.”

Commonwealth Writers has partnered with Granta magazine to give regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to be published by Granta online during the week commencing 27 May.

John Freeman, Editor of Granta said: “The Commonwealth Short Story Prize searches across a vast territory with relentless curiosity to select the brightest new talent from each region, and this year is stronger than ever. With voices that arrest, affirm, disturb and illuminate, this new crop of writers turn our expectations for what a story can do, and of where they are calling from, inside out. This partnership is an example of what the magazine can be at best – a beacon for those writers we didn’t know we were missing out on – and we salute
Commonwealth Writers in their continuing good work.”

Thursday, May 16, 2013

3 Nigerian Writers Short listed For Commonwealth Book Prize 2013!

3 Nigerian Writers Short listed For Commonwealth Book Prize 2013!

Three Nigerian authors are among the 21 writers shortlisted for the 2013 highly coveted Commonwealth Book Prize and they are competing against five writers from Australia, five from India, three from the United Kingdom, two from Canada, one from Jamaica, one from South Africa and one from Sri Lanka

It is really a tough competition.

The three Nigerian writers are Ifeanyi Ajaegbo, Chibundu Onuzo and E.E. Sule.

The following are the titles of their entries with the synopses.

Sarah House

Nita wakes up one night to discover herself in a dark world very
different from the life of opportunities promised to her by Slim, the
man she loved and trusted to take her away from the small island town of
Opobo, Nigeria. Soon she realises she is a slave, bought and sold
without her consent and forced into a life of prostitution and sleazy
strip clubs.

Every day Nita walks a tightrope of survival surrounded by vicious
pimps and thugs. She meets Tega, a fellow slave lured into prostitution
by Slim; she is sold to Madam, who runs Sarah House and makes money
from young girls and children; she finds favour with Chief, an
influential politician who provides protection for Madam’s illicit
business in human trafficking, and she must survive Lothar, a renegade
porn film maker. Life in this nightmare world gets more complicated when
Nita meets pretty, young Damka and is approached by a police detective
working undercover.

When Damka disappears and Nita discovers the child’s bloodied
clothes in a room in Sarah House, she knows she has to work with the
police in spite of the dangers to her own life.

IFEANYI AJAEGBO is a development consultant and communications
practitioner who lives and works in Port Harcourt in Nigeria. His
writing has won awards and fellowships, including the 2005 African
regional prize for the Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Sarah House
is his first novel.

The Spider King’s Daughter

The Spider King’s Daughter’ is a modern-day Romeo and
Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos, a city torn between
tradition and modernity, corruption and truth, love and family loyalty.
Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy
father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed
guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her
father’s favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often
lonely behind the high walls of her house.

A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives a
seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His
family lost everything after his father’s death and now he runs after
cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister.

When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up
an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian
society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten
their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their
loyalties lie.

CHIBUNDU ONUZO was born in Nigeria in 1991 and is the youngest
of four children. She is currently studying History at Kings College,
London. When not writing, Chibundu can be found playing the piano or
singing.

Sterile Sky

As the gifted young Murtala comes of age in Kano, violent riots and
his family’s own woes threaten to erase all he holds dear. Stalked by
monsters real and imagined, desperate to preserve a sense of self and
the future, Murtala hunts for answers in the wreckage of the city – and
gives us a unique insight into modern life in northern Nigeria.

E. E. SULE is the pen-name of Dr. Sule E. Egya who is an
associate professor in Department of English, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
University, Lapai, Nigeria. Besides published academic work and essays,
Dr.Egya is the author of the short story collections Impotent Heavens and Dream and Shame, and the poetry volumes Naked Sun, Knifing Tongues and What the Sea Told Me. His poems, short stories, and critical work have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies and literary magazines. Sterile Sky is his first novel.

Chinelo Okparanta and three other Nigerians Shortlisted for 2013 Caine Prize

Chinelo Okparanta, the author of the highly rated Happiness Like Water and three other Nigerian writers have made four of the five writers shortlisted for the 2013 Caine Prize for African fiction.

Chinelo's entry "America" from Granta, Issue 118 (London, 2012) is highly favoured to win the coveted Caine Prize.

The other Nigerians on the shortlist are Elnathan John for "Bayan Layi" from Per Contra, Issue 25 (USA, 2012), Tope Folarin for "Miracle" from Transition, Issue 109 (Bloomington, 2012) and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim for "The Whispering Trees" from "The Whispering Trees", published by Parrésia Publishers (Lagos, 2012).

The fifth writer is Pede Hollist from Sierra Leone for "Foreign Aid" from Journal of Progressive Human Services, Vol. 23.3 (Philadelphia, 2012).

The Chair of judges, art historian and broadcaster, Gus Casely-Hayford said:

“The shortlist was selected from 96 entries from 16 African countries. They are all outstanding African stories that were drawn from an extraordinary body of high quality
submissions.”

Gus described the shortlist saying, “The five contrasting titles interrogate aspects of things that we might feel we know of Africa – violence, religion, corruption, family, community – but these are subjects that are deconstructed and beautifully
remade. These are challenging, arresting, provocative stories of a continent and its
descendants captured at a time of burgeoning change.”

Alongside Gus on the panel of judges this year are award-winning Nigerian-born artist, Sokari Douglas Camp; author, columnist and Lord Northcliffe Emeritus Professor at UCL, John Sutherland; Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Nathan Hensley and the winner of the Caine Prize in its inaugural year, Leila Aboulela.

Once again, the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will be given the opportunity of taking up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. The award will cover all travel and living expenses. The winner will also be invited to take part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town in September 2013. Last year the Caine Prize was won by Nigerian
writer Rotimi Babatunde. He has subsequently co- authored a play "Feast" for the Young Vic and the Royal Court Theatres in London.

The winner of the £10,000 prize is to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday the 8th of July.

The first Nigerian to win the Caine Prize is the popular multiple awards winning novelist Helon Habila in 2001. Previous shortlisted Nigerian writers include the famous Nigerian authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2002; Chika Unigwe in 2004, was also shortlisted in 2006 for the Dutch equivalent of the Orange Prize for her novel translated into Dutch, "de fenicks". She won the 2003 BBC Short Story Competition for her story "Borrowed Smile", a Commonwealth Short Story Award for "Weathered Smiles" and a Flemish literary prize for "De Smaak van Sneeuw". Her second novel, On Black Sisters’ Street, first published in Dutch, was published in Chika’s own English version by Jonathan Cape in 2009 and Random House in 2011 won the 2012 Nigeria Prize for Literature endowed by the Nigeria LNG Limited.. Her new novel is Night Dancer published in June 2012 by Jonathan Cape; Ike Okonta in 2005; Sefi Atta in 2006, is famous for her Everything Good Will Come and Swallow and the short story collection News From Home. Winner of the PEN International 2004/5 David T.K. Wong Prize, she also won the first Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2006 for Everything Good Will Come, and the final NOMA Award for Publishing in Africa in 2009 for Lawless and other stories, now published as "News From Home". Her publishers include Interlink Books in the USA, AAA Press in Nigeria and Jacana Media in South Africa; Uwem Akpan in 2007 and his book Say You're One of Them (Oprah's Book Club) published by Little Brown won the Best First Book award in the Africa region of the Commonwealth Literature Prize and was critically acclaimed by Oprah Winfrey on Oprah’s Book Club in 2009 prompting it to reach the top of the New York Times bestseller list; Ada Udechukwu in 2007 and Uzor Maxim Uzoatu in 2008.

The previous winners include the following.

Chinelo Okparanta was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She received her BS from Pennsylvania State University, her MA from Rutgers University and her MFA from Iowa Writers' Workshop. She teaches at the University of Iowa.

Her novel "Happiness Like Water" made the exclusive list of Best Books Of 2013?: Our Picks For The Year's Biggest Reads by the highly esteemed Huffington Post.
See the report on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/best-books-2013-our-picks_n_2344874.html?ref=topbar#slide=1910286 and also the latest New Voice in a series on GRANTA.
Read her interview on http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Interview-Chinelo-Okparanta

"Chinelo Okparanta’s debut collection is astonishing. Her narrators render their stories with such strength and intimacy, such lucidity and composure, that in each and every case the truths of their lives detonate deep inside the reader’s heart, with the power and force of revelation."

—Paul Harding, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers.

"Okparanta's prose is tender, beautiful and evocative. These powerful stories of contemporary Nigeria are told with compassion and a certain sense of humour. What a remarkable new talent."

—Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street, winner of the 2012 Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by the Nigeria LNG Limited.

"Intricate, graceful prose propels Okparanta’s profoundly moving and illuminating book. I devoured these stories and immediately wanted more. This is an arrival."

—NoViolet Bulawayo, author of We Need New Names.

"A haunting and startlingly original collection of short stories about the lives of Nigerians both at home and in America. Okparanta’s characters are forced to make difficult, often impossible choices—a university student decides to go to work as an escort to pay for her mother’s medical bills, a high school teacher is asked to come home to care for her dying, abusive father—and yet they manage to prevail through quiet and sometimes surprising acts of defiance. Okparanta’s prose is elegant and precise, fueled by a strong undercurrent of rage that surfaces at unexpected moments. Happiness, Like Water is a deeply affecting literary debut, the work of a sure and gifted new writer."
—Julie Otsuka, author of The Buddha in the Attic

"Without bluster, Chinelo Okparanta writes stories that are brave and devastating."

—Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

See more by Nigerian Writers and click on any of the book covers to order for the bestselling Nigerian novels and short stories collections.