UPDATE: The shortlist for the Etisalat Prize was announced December 9th, culling the longlist of nine titles down to three: An Imperfect Blessing by Nadia Davids, Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu, and Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta. The winner will be revealed February 22, 2015.
The Etisalat Prize for Literature was founded in 2013 by the Nigerian telecommunications giant Etisalat to spotlight debut African novelists. Last year, NoViolet Buluwayo’s We Need New Names edged out Yewande Omotoso’s Bom Boy, Yejide Kilanko’s Daughters Who Walk This Path, Karen Jennings’ Finding Southbek, Ifeanyi Ajeagbo’s Sarah House, Jamila Safari’s The Great Agony and Pure Laughter of the Gods, Chibundu Onuzo’s The Spider King’s Daughter, Claire Robertson’s The Spiral House, and The Whispering Trees by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. Buluwayo, who recently won the Hurston-Wright Foundation’s Legacy Award for critically-praised novel, gifted the fellowship to Omotoso, her runner-up.
This week, the prize administrators shared the 2014 longlist contending for the £15,000 cash prize and a fellowship at University of East Anglia under the mentorship of Professor Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland. Judges Sarah Ladipo Manyika (Chair), Alain Mabanckou, Jamal Mahjoub, and Tsitsi Dangarembga will agree on a whittled list by December 8, 2014, and, ultimately, the winner, who will be announced on February 22, 2015.
The full 2014 longlist is here:
An Imperfect Blessing by Nadia Davids
Whoever Fears the Sea by Justin Fox
The Thunder that Roars by Imran Garda
Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (the 2014 Commonwealth Prize Winner)
Fresh Air and other stories by Reward Nsirim
Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta (this year’s Lambda Award Winner for Lesbian General Fiction)
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (longlisted for the 2014 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award)
Shadows by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
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