Entry Submission for Etisalat Prize for Literature Closes 30thAugust
Etisalat Nigeria, has announced the end of August as the closing
date for the submission of entries into the Debut
Fiction category of the Etisalat
Prize for Literature. Thiscategory which opened on the 5th of June will officially close on
Friday, 30th of August
2013 to kick off the judging process by the panel of judges chaired by Pumla
Gqola.
Enitan Denloye, Director, Brands and Communications at Etisalat
Nigeria, said the entries received spanned across the continent, a testament to
the abundance of literary talent out of Africa. “We have received some exciting
and quality entries since the call for entries of the Etisalat Prize and what
we are doing with this Prize is to focus attention on first time published
writers. We are delighted to have provided a platform that showcases and
celebrates the uniqueness and creativity in the literary arts as it relates to
fiction in Africa.”
The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first ever pan-African prize to
applaud first time writers of published fiction books. The Prize boasts of a
seasoned panel of Judges from across the
continent, each with the aim of identifying new writers of African
descent. Submitted works must be the writer’s first fiction book of over 30,000
words, which has been published in the last 24 months.
Entries for the Fiction Novel category
will be assessed by four preselected judges chaired by Pumla Gqola, Associate Professor in the Department of
African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa); Zakes
Mda, Professor of Creative
writing at the University of Ohio; Billy Kahora, Managing Editor of Kwani
Trust, of the literary Journal Kwani and Sarah Ladipo Manyika,
writer and academic.
With a prize money of £15,000, along with a Samsung Note, the
winner of the Fiction Novel category will also go on an Etisalat-sponsored book
tour in three major cities and be awarded a fellowship at the prestigious
University of East Anglia, the pre-eminent school for creative writing and
mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland. The
second place winner will receive a cash prize of £1,000, also go on an
Etisalat-sponsored book tour with a Samsung Note. Etisalat will also purchase
1000 copies of the three shortlisted books which will be distributed across
libraries and schools in the continent as a way of also celebrating the
publishing industry.
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