The annual Noma Award for African Literature, the leading award given to works from this continent, has been won by Elinor Sisulu for her biography of Walter and Albertina Sisulu. She will receive prize money of US$10 000. The award is sponsored by the Japanese company Kodansha.
The book, Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime, was published by David Philip (DP), an imprint of New Africa Books. This is the third time DP has won the Noma.
The Noma jury called the work ”a powerful and searing book, told with honesty and authority, of the lives of two heroic figures in South Africa’s history. Bringing together the personal and political, the Sisulu story is a compelling account of their struggle against apartheid; the history of a close family transcending the separations of banning orders, imprisonment and exile; and a profoundly touching love story.”
Author Sisulu, said the commendation, ”has an unerring command of the history and handles the narrative deftly, without losing sight of her goal to reveal the complexities of the political and personal choices of her protagonists. ” Elinor Sisulu is a journalist, academic and the daughter-in-law of Walter and Albertina Sisulu.