African Writers Winning Prizes

 These came to me through Brittle Paper's blog feed:

Senegalese Novelist Boubacar Boris Diop Wins 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

It’s been fantastic year for African literature! Shortly after Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize, the Senegalese novelist Boubacar Boris Diop has been announced winner of the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, referred to as the “American Nobel”, for his novel Murambi: The Book of Bones. The novel is a “multi-voiced” account of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, written in Diop’s signature quaint style. He is the second African to win the prize, following Mozambican writer Mia Couto in 2014.

First awarded in 1970, the Neustadt Prize is sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international publication World Literature Today and is biennially conferred on a single writer of any nationality. At $50,000, it is one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world. It is also largely regarded as a “lead up” to the Nobel, with many of its winners going on to win the latter.

Boubacar was announced winner via Zoom as part of the 2021 Neustadt Lit Fest. The finalist of ten authors included the Ghanaian-American Kwame Dawes. Boubacar’s winning novel recounts the story of Rwandan history teacher Cornelius Uvimana who returns to his home country in the aftermath of the war and tries to write a play about it. It was translated into English from French by Fiona Mc Laughlin, with an afterword by Diop.

Zimbabwe’s Tsitsi Dangaremgba Wins One of Germany’s Most Important Cultural Prizes 

Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangaremgba has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She was announced as the winner during a ceremony held in Frankfurt. She is the first woman to be honored with the prize, which highlights her contributions to literature and promotion of civil liberties.

Awarded since the 1950s, the Peace Prize is an initiative of the German Book Trade, an association of booksellers and publishers in Germany, who also run the Frankfurt Book Fair. The prize is annually conferred on a writer “who have contributed to these ideals through their exceptional activities, especially in the fields of literature, science and art.”

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 Dangaremgba’s strides, both in literature and political activism, can not be understated. Her novels consistently explore concepts of freedom and self-autonomy, centering stories of women struggling to find their place in a politically unstable Zimbabwe. Her most recent work This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She was also announced winner of the 2021 Pen Award for Freedom of Expression, and the Pen Pinter Prize.

Mozambique’s First Female Novelist Wins One of the Richest Prizes in Portuguese Literature 

The Mozambican author Paulina Chiziane, the first woman to publish a novel in her country, has been awarded the 2021 Camões Award for Portuguese literature. She is the first African woman to earn this honor and the third Mozambican author, following José Craveirinha and Mia Couto.

Named after the Portuguese poet Luís Vaz de Camões, the prize is awarded annually for an outstanding body of work by an author writing in the Portuguese language. At €100,000, it is among the richest literary prizes in the world.

Born in the southern province of Gaza, Mozambique, Paulina Chiziane earned a degree at Eduardo Mondlane University. Her first novel Balada do Amor ao Vento was published in 1990, making her the first woman in Mozambique to do so. Her body of work has been defined as “political and feminist” and have been known to interrogate the concepts of gender and women’s rights. Her novel The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy was published in 2016 by Archipelago books and is available to readers who are curious about her writing. It is a humorous and searing indictment of polygamy as a cultural system set up to stifle women.

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