2019 Writivism Prize shortlists announced
Friday June 07 2019
Kenyan writer Mbogo Ireri won the 2018 Writivism Short Story Prize with his story 'Hopes and Dreams'. PHOTO | COURTESY
This year’s Writivism Festival will be held from August 15 to 18 at the National Theatre, Kampala, where the winners of the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction shortlists will be announced.
South Africans and Nigerians dominate this year’s shortlists that were announced last week.
Each of the two shortlists has three nominees, with Nigerian writer Frances Ogamba featuring on both lists, a mark of her excellence as a writer considering that they had different judges.
The three shortlisted stories for the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize are Ghana Boy, by Ogamba, Tale, by Vuyelwa Maluleke from South Africa, and Maserumo, by Resoketswe Manenzhe, also from South Africa.
Nigerian writer Temitope Owolabi received a notable mention for her short story There is Goodness Waiting at Home.
The shortlisted stories for the 2019 Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction are all by Nigerians: How to Wear Your Body, by Eugene Yakubu, The Valley of Memories, by Ogamba, and The Comedian, by Kanyinsola Olorunnisola.
All shortlisted writers will receive $150 and an invitation to the festival in August.
The two winners of the Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction will each receive $500, as well as a chance to work on their manuscript at a one month residency at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
The Writivism Short Story Prize judging panel is chaired by Ugandan writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. The other judges are Zimbabwean writer and editor Emmanuel Sigauke and Ghanaian publisher, blogger and activist Kinna Likimani.
The judges panel of the Koffi Addo Prize is chaired by Ghanaian writer Ayesha Haruna Attah. The other judges are South African novelist, memoirist, poet and short story writer, Karen Jennings, and Kenyan academic Christopher Ouma.
The annual Writivism Short Story Prize was started in 2013 to recognise emerging writers from Africa.
The Koffi Addo Prize recognises outstanding nonfiction by emerging writers in Africa.