WINNER OF 2014 ETISALAT PRIZE FOR LITERATURE ANNOUNCED

Songeziwe Mahlangu is the winner of the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature for debut fiction for his novel, Penumbra. The three shortlisted authors for the prize were Mahlangu, Nadia Davids, for An Imperfect Blessing and Chinelo Okparanta, for Happiness Like Water. Neema Komba was announced as the winner of this year’s Etisalat Flash Fiction competition. Penumbra was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize last year. The Etisalat Prize for Literature is a pan-African prize for debut authors of published fiction works. The winner receives £15 000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Prof. Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland. Etisalat also purchases 1 000 copies of each shortlisted book, and the shortlisted authors are rewarded with a book tour. The inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature was won by Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo, for her novel We Need New Names.