The Penguin Prize for African Writing will be awarded at the M&G Johannesburg Literary Festival on Saturday, September 4, starting at 7.30pm.
The prize is awarded for works of fiction and non-fiction and consists of R50 000 and a publishing contract with Penguin Books South Africa, with worldwide distribution through the Penguin Group of companies.
Writers based throughout Africa submitted about 250 manuscripts in the fiction category and 50 in the non-fiction category.
Alison Lowry, the chief executive of Penguin Books South Africa, said: “Our judges were asked to look, in the non-fiction entries, for serious narrative works that examine and explore African issues and experiences in an engaging and thought-provoking way.
“In the fiction section we hoped for novels of freshness and originality that could represent the finest examples of contemporary fiction out of Africa.”
Kole Omotoso, Harry Garuba and Elinor Sisulu are judging the fiction category; Redi Direko, Nic Dawes and Jonathan Jansen the non-fiction category.
From their reading and deliberations, the following contenders have emerged:
Fiction
Ellen Aaku (Zambia)
Moraa Gitaa (Kenya)
Chika Ezeanya (Nigeria)
Shubnum Khan (South Africa)
Isabella Morris (South Africa)
Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya)
Non-fiction
Pius Adesanmi (Nigeria)
Andrew Barlow (South Africa)
Ruth Carneson (South Africa)
Ahmed Mortiar (South Africa)
Tanure Ojaide (Nigeria)
Anli Serfontein (South Africa)
Tebogo Tlharipe (South Africa)