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Etisalat Prize for Literature 2013

Information
Closing date: 
31 August 2013
Entry: 
Writers of African citizenship to be submitted by their publishers Prize £15,000
Prize: 
£15,000, a Samsung Galaxy Note and a Montblanc Meisterstuck, as well as a sponsored book tour to three African cities. He or she will also embark on the Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden.

Telecommunications corporation Etisalat has launched a new literary award aimed at recognizing and celebrating writers and other members of the literary community across Africa.
The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first ever pan-African prize to reward new writers of published books of fiction, while also supporting the burgeoning publishing industry in Africa.

The Prize is open for entries from 5 June through 31 August 2013. Publishers who have published a minimum of five authors in the past three years are invited to submit qualifying books by writers of African citizenship based anywhere in the world. Works submitted by publishers must be the writers' first works of fiction of more than 30,000 words, and must have been published in the last 24 months.

The Etisalat Prize for Literature aims to identify, develop and nurture creative African talent, as well as to contribute towards making the work available to a wider readership within the continent. The winner, to be announced in February 2014, will receive £15,000, a Samsung Galaxy Note and a Montblanc Meisterstuck, as well as a sponsored book tour to three African cities. He or she will also embark on the Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden.

Shortlisted writers will win a Samsung Galaxy Note and also go on a book tour to two major African cities. One thousand copies of all the shortlisted titles will be donated to schools, book clubs and libraries.

Steven Evans, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, said: "The Etisalat Prize for Literature is our way of sharing in the passions and aspirations of young and upcoming writers as well as breathing new life to the literary society."

The inaugural panel of judges comprises Pumla Gqola (chair), Associate Professor in the Department of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand; Zakes Mda, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Ohio and winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize; Billy Kahora, Managing Editor of Kwani Trust; and Sarah Ladipo Manyika, who teaches literature at San Francisco State University.

The patrons include Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (UK/Zimbabwe), outgoing Deputy Editor of Granta Magazine and Deputy Chair of the Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing; and Margaret Busby (UK/Ghana), author, journalist and publisher.
For more information
http://etisalatprize.com/

 

Closing date: 
31 August 2013
Entry: 
Writers of African citizenship to be submitted by their publishers Prize £15,000
Prize: 
£15,000, a Samsung Galaxy Note and a Montblanc Meisterstuck, as well as a sponsored book tour to three African cities. He or she will also embark on the Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden.