Commonwealth book prize winners to be named today
Mar 12, 2008
THE Africa regional winners of the Commonwealth Book Prize will be announced this evening at a function to be presided over by Nobel Prize laureate and renowned author, V.S. Naipaul.
By Bob Kisiki
THE Africa regional winners of the Commonwealth Book Prize will be announced this evening at a function to be presided over by Nobel Prize laureate and renowned author, V.S. Naipaul.
The 6:00pm function will be held at the Metropole Hotel, Acacia Avenue in Kampala.
Prof. Arthur Gakwandi of the Makerere University literature department said the objectives of the prize were to promote new voices, reward achievement, encourage wider readership and greater literacy.
Gakwandi, who also chairs the Africa regional panel of judges, said the contest was open to writers in all Commonwealth countries.
He explained that the contest involves two prizes; the established writers’ prize, where the winner takes 10,000 pounds and the new writers’ prize, which earns the winner 5,000 pounds.
This year’s regional winners will be announced today in four different countries – Uganda, Canada, India and Australia.
The host countries are those where the chairpersons of each region’s judges come from.
The African judging panel comprises Gakwandi, Dr. Olutoyin Jegede of Ibadan University in Nigeria and Maureen Isaacson of the Johannesburg Independent newspaper.
The three met in Kampala at the end of February and selected the regional winners from two shortlists of six titles in each category.
The winner in each category will win 1,000 pounds.
The chairpersons of the regional panels will then constitute the panel to select the overall Commonwealth winners, who take the 10,000 and 5,000 pound prizes.
Last year’s overall winner was Australia’s Maxime Case, whose All We Have Left Unsaid won her the 10,000 pounds.
Gakwandi said the ceremony has been organised in collaboration with the National Book Trust of Uganda.
According to Gakwandi, Naipaul spent a year as a fellow in creative writing at Makerere University during the mid-sixties.
Soon afterwards, he wrote a novel called In a Free State, based on the conflict between then Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote and Kabaka Edward Mutesa.
He is also known for Miguel Street, a novel that has featured on the O’ Level literature syllabus before.
Naipul will on March 20 give a talk at Makerere University.
THE Africa regional winners of the Commonwealth Book Prize will be announced this evening at a function to be presided over by Nobel Prize laureate and renowned author, V.S. Naipaul.
The 6:00pm function will be held at the Metropole Hotel, Acacia Avenue in Kampala.
Prof. Arthur Gakwandi of the Makerere University literature department said the objectives of the prize were to promote new voices, reward achievement, encourage wider readership and greater literacy.
Gakwandi, who also chairs the Africa regional panel of judges, said the contest was open to writers in all Commonwealth countries.
He explained that the contest involves two prizes; the established writers’ prize, where the winner takes 10,000 pounds and the new writers’ prize, which earns the winner 5,000 pounds.
This year’s regional winners will be announced today in four different countries – Uganda, Canada, India and Australia.
The host countries are those where the chairpersons of each region’s judges come from.
The African judging panel comprises Gakwandi, Dr. Olutoyin Jegede of Ibadan University in Nigeria and Maureen Isaacson of the Johannesburg Independent newspaper.
The three met in Kampala at the end of February and selected the regional winners from two shortlists of six titles in each category.
The winner in each category will win 1,000 pounds.
The chairpersons of the regional panels will then constitute the panel to select the overall Commonwealth winners, who take the 10,000 and 5,000 pound prizes.
Last year’s overall winner was Australia’s Maxime Case, whose All We Have Left Unsaid won her the 10,000 pounds.
Gakwandi said the ceremony has been organised in collaboration with the National Book Trust of Uganda.
According to Gakwandi, Naipaul spent a year as a fellow in creative writing at Makerere University during the mid-sixties.
Soon afterwards, he wrote a novel called In a Free State, based on the conflict between then Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote and Kabaka Edward Mutesa.
He is also known for Miguel Street, a novel that has featured on the O’ Level literature syllabus before.
Naipul will on March 20 give a talk at Makerere University.