Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2007: Africa winners announced
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2007: Africa Winners Announced in 21st International Book Award- Shaun Johnson wins Best Book Award for The Native Commissioner
- Maxine Case wins Best First Book Award for All We Have Left Unsaid
An international judging panel meeting in Kampala has awarded the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award, Africa Region, to The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson. The Best First Book Award was awarded to All We have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case. Each author wins £1,000 and goes into the next stage of the competition to find the overall Commonwealth Best Book and Best First Book.
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, awarded annually, aims to reward the best in Commonwealth fiction written in English, by both established and new writers, and to take their work to a wider audience.
The judging panel for the Africa region was chaired by Professor Arthur Gakwandi (Uganda). He was joined by judges Jane Ciarunji Geteria (Kenya) and Dr Olufemi Joseph Abodunrin (Malawi).
Arthur Gakwandi, Chair of Judges, comments:
"The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson portrays the dilemma of a liberal white South African trying to build bridges between different races, but who is frustrated by the nature of the system which is designed to prevent such bridges being constructed. The judges were highly impressed by the originality with which the author handled a contemporary theme that is important not only in South Africa but in the whole of the African continent and beyond They were also impressed by the depth and sensitivity with which individual characters have been drawn.
"The author brings a new perspective to the important theme of race relations that has been treated by other South African writers. Shaun Johnson's achievement lies in the way he challenges the reader to revisit traditional assumptions about the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed in South Africa.
"All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case is about child-parent relationship at a time of rapidly changing social values. It revisits the age-old theme of generation gap and the emotional stresses to which it often gives rise. The author makes some daring structural innovations by making her story oscillate between the past and the present in its examination of the lives of major characters.
"Maxine Case tells her story with a disarming simplicity, but with intriguing subtle hints about some dark corners of South African history and politics. The judges were impressed by the author's unique insight into familial bonds that cut through generational differences and this is what turns the novel into a tale with a universal significance."
Both regional winners now enter the final stage of the 21st Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the international award for outstanding fiction, which will be decided by a distinguished Pan-Commonwealth panel in Jamaica and announced at the Calabash Literary Festival on Sunday 27 May 2007. They join other regional winners from Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia, and South East Asia and South Pacific. £10,000 will be awarded to the author of Overall Best Book, and £5,000 to the author of Best First Book.
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize will be complemented by a range of online initiatives shortly to be launched at http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/writersprize/. Designed to be interactive and engaging for a range of audiences, the website will include online discussions about the winning books, dialogue between reading groups from different countries, broadcast interviews with the winning authors and recommended reading from the 2007 winners. In addition, a project-based education page will be developed during 2007 and will be available for download to teachers and individuals worldwide, confirming the Commonwealth Foundation's ongoing commitment to nurturing and promoting the cultures of this diverse and vibrant community.
The Winners
The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson
As a Native Commissioner through the 1940s to 1960s, George Jameson was responsible for the welfare of the 'natives' in his appointed region. He prided himself on furthering relations between communities, speaking several tribal languages fluently and developing a reputation as a man to be trusted and sought after for help and advice. With a thriving young family, a devoted wife and a quick succession of promotions, George is proud of everything he has achieved so far, in particular the understanding he is fostering between whites and blacks. Then, in the wake of the 1948 elections, George feels a shift in the Native Affairs Department's agenda. As he is shunted from one outpost to another, his role becoming ever more hopeless, his place in South Africa's future increasingly hazy, he feels the weight of his powerlessness and finds himself fighting off a crippling depression. The Native Commissioner is a heart-wrenching portrayal of a kind and conscientious man who felt himself cast adrift under the weight of South African apartheid.
All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case
Danika believes she is able to cope with anything. Now, as she keeps a lonely vigil at her mother's hospital bed, helplessly watching her life slip away, Danika is once again confronted by the dark secrets of her childhood in Cape Town in the eighties.
A state of emergency had been declared - young soldiers carrying guns roamed the streets of the Cape Flats. No-one bothered to explain anything to bewildered, seven-year-old Danika, and for once her older sister, Lili, had no answers. Besides, their family had an emergency of their own.
All We Have Left Unsaid is a poignant, deceptively simple debut novel by Maxine Case.
The winners were chosen from shortlists announced in February 2007:
Africa Shortlist for Best Book Award
Africa
Best Book
The Native Commissioner, by Shaun Johnson (South Africa), Penguin Books
What Kind of Child, by Ken Barris (South Africa), Kwela Books
Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Harper Collins
The Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya), Random House UK
Playing in the Light, by Zoe Wicomb (South Africa), Umuzi
Song of the Atman, by Ronnie Govender (South Africa), Jacana
Best First Book
All We Have Left Unsaid, by Maxine Case (South Africa), Kwela Books
Ice in the Lungs, by Gerald Kraak (South Africa), Jacana
A Life Elsewhere, by Segun Afolabi (Nigeria), Jonathan Cape
Room 207, by Kgebeti Moele (South Africa), Kwela Books
The Beggar's Sign Writer, by Louis Greenberg (South Africa), Umuzi
The Shadow Follows, by David Medalie (South Africa), Picador Africa
The results from the Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia, and South East Asia and South Pacific regions can be viewed at http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/writersprize/
Previous Overall Winners: 2006-2001
Best book Best first book
2006 Kate Grenville, The Secret River Mark McWatt, Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement
2005 Andrea Levy, Small Island Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus
2004 Caryl Phillips, A Distant Shore Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2003 Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe Sarah Hall, Haweswater
2002 Richard Flanagan, Manu Herbstein, Ama, A
Gould's Book of Fish Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade
2001 Peter Carey, True History Zadie Smith, White Teeth
of the Kelly Gang
-ends-
Notes to Editors
1. The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, established in 1987, is sponsored and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental body working to help civil society organisations promote democracy, development and cultural understanding in Commonwealth countries.
2. The Macquarie Foundation is one of Australia's leading philanthropic foundations, contributing more than A$8.5 million a year to 400 community organisations. It is the philanthropic arm of Macquarie Bank, which provides investment banking, commercial banking and selected retail financial services throughout the world.
3. Every year, prizes are given for the Best book and Best First Book, valued at £1,000, in each of the four Commonwealth Regions: Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia, South East Asia and the South Pacific. From these regions, the overall winner for the Best Book and Best First book prizes are chosen. The 2007 judges are:
Africa
Professor Arthur Gakwandi (Uganda) ? Chairperson
Jane Ciarunji Geteria (Kenya)
Dr Olufemi Joseph Abodunrin (Malawi)
Canada and the Caribbean
Professor Aritha van Herk (Canada) ? Chairperson
Professor Mark McWatt (Guyana)
Peter Oliva (Canada)
Europe and South Asia
Professor Angela Smith (United Kingdom) ? Chairperson
Supriya Chaudhuri (India)
Aamer Hussein (United Kingdom)
South East Asia and South Pacific
Dr Christine Prentice (New Zealand) ? Chairperson
Dr Anne Brewster (Australia)
Sudesh Mishra (Australia)
7. The eight regional winners will be invited to attend a special week long literary programme in Jamaica in May 2007. The literary programme will take place at the same time as the judging, and will consist of a series of readings, discussions and other public events.
8. The overall winners will be announced on Sunday 27 May at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Treasure Beach. For further information about the Calabash International Literary Festival: www.calabashfestival.org
9. The Head of the Commonwealth, HM Queen Elizabeth II, has in the past graciously invited the Best Book Winner for an audience in London.
10. The £10,000 Best Book Prize 2006 was awarded to Australian writer Kate Grenville for The Secret River (Canongate). The Best First Book Prize 2006 of £5,000 went to Guyanese writer Mark McWatt for Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement (Peepal Tree Press).
11. For further information about the Prize: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/writersprize/ or contact Jennifer Sobol: T. +44 (0)20 7747 6262; E. j.sobol@commonwealth.int
Further media information:
Mark Hutchinson
Colman Getty
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7631 2666
E: mark@colmangetty.co.uk
