Man Booker Prize released the longlist which includes Summertime by J.M. Coetzee, who is one of only two novelists to have won the Booker Prize twice with Life & Times of Michael K in 1983 and Disgrace in 1999.
William Trevor, previously shortlisted four times for the annual prize, is longlisted for his new novel Love and Summer.
Read more here.
However, I wonder when an African publishing house would make that list; though we say value should not be judged by awards but I really can't help but wonder...as our books that have even won international acclaim were first published abroad. Is it possible to find our way to this list or am I just dreaming?
The solution to this is coming up with prizes with names like Soyinka Award, PEN/Okgibo, Marechera Prize, and Africa has enough resources to channel into author awards.
ReplyDeleteNowadays I read only African authors and from what i have read I know we are good. I have read items from publishing houses just as Sub-Saharan Publishers (Ghana) and Jacana (South Africa). To me these are all part of the mental emancipation we have to fight for. I have started this process by reading only books by us and for us, so that i would know us, so that i would know myself.
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