Writer, Sefi Atta, has been named the winner of the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. The prize is worth $10,000. Her collection of short stories: ‘Lawless and Other Stories' won her the prize...

By Bayo Olupohunda

How come this year’s prize money will now go to the Nigerian Academy of Letters? Why were the nine poets absent at the award? Lindsey Barrett, one of the shorlisted writers wrote that no invitation was extended to them but the management of NLNG said they should come to the venue and identify themselves to be let in. More like gate crashing...

Oprah Winfrey has blessed the book world's eternal underdog: the short story.
Publishing's surest hitmaker announced Friday that her latest pick was Uwem Akpan's debut collection "Say You're One Of Them," practically guaranteeing hundreds of thousands of sales, numbers generally unthinkable for short stories beyond works by Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever and other giants of the art form...

Nigerian author E C Osondu has won the £10,000 2009 Caine Prize for African Writing, the 10th year of the prize.

His story, "Waiting", from the October 2008 issue of Guernicamag.com, was pronounced "powerfully written with not an ounce of fat on it—and deeply moving" by chair of judges, New Statesman chief sub-editor Nana Yaa Mensah at the awards ceremony this evening (6th July) held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Osundu also wins the opportunity of taking up a month's residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC, as a "Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence". The award will cover all travel and living expenses.

More by Katie Allen

Nigeria's Uwem Akpan has won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book from Africa, worth £1,000. Akpan's book, 'Say You're One of Them' published by Abacus Books, beat five others from South Africa to the prize...

By Gregory Austin Nwakunor

Sweet stories always have a dark, sometimes, sour beginning. For Nigerian Literature, the dark moment was actually the years of 'intellectual emigration', when a whole crop of intelligentsia emigrated abroad and the multi-national publishing houses relocated or divested and the few local firms available could not match up with expectations.

But since the emergence of a new generation of Nigerian writers - the post 1960 generation - and new publishing houses - post 1990 companies - it seems the gods of literature, not just of poetry (apologies Maxim Uzoatu), have begun to smile back at Nigeria. In fact, what happened to literature in 2008 was almost something unreal: sweet soulful melody.

If 2007 is regarded as the year Nigerian writers shone like stars in the world literary scene, 2008 sustained the goodwill of the previous year, by again situating the place of the contemporary Nigerian writer on the map of excellence, as their works continued to generate genuine global appeal. That is, judging from the awards and increase in number and quality of books published in the year. This global recognition has sprung a genuine affection and audience from the former lacklustre Nigerian readers.

One thing, that may, however, be overlooked, but have been rather significant, is the subtle manner contemporary writers have influenced readers to taking part in literary events. From book readings to poetry performances, which used to be 'boring', spilling audiences have begun to characterise literary functions.

The year 2008 was a pointer to the fact that the face of Nigerian Literature now is young. The year celebrated the established and the emerging writer, while also giving platform for talent to thrive.

A collective exhales of Chinua Achebe and the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart ushered in a whole lot of literary activities for the year. It opened with the burial of Cyprian Ekwensi on January 4. The foremost writer had died in 2007 at the age of 86.

Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu's Long Juju Man winning the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa in January was also remarkable. Her book, Zahrah the Windseeker, also won the 2nd Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature.

It was an assurance that the year had chosen its direction well enough. And while, the nation was still savouring Nnedi's early success, UK-based writer, Sade Adeniran, was announced as the winner of the Best First Book, Commonwealth Africa Regional Prize for her work, Imagine This (SW Books). Karen King-Aribisala also won the Regional Best Book Prize for her novel, The Hangman's Game (Peepal Tree Press).

Later on, the literary community warmed up to the news of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's recipient of the MacArthur 'genius' award. She was one of the 25 individuals selected for the 2008 MacAurthur Fellowship.

In the same vein of achievement, Professor Niyi Osundare won Africa's most prestigious poetry award, Tchicaya U Tamsi Award.

Towards the end of the year, Kaine Agary's Yellow-Yellow, clinched the Nigeria Literature Prize sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, which currently ranks as the biggest literature prize in Africa. Also on the home-front, Hyginus Ekwuazi won the ANA Poetry Prize back-to-back.

Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), like it did in 2007 with Wole Soyinka, organised an international colloquium for the septuagenarian novelist, Achebe, with the theme, Telling the African Story.

The celebration began with an interactive session on Saturday, April 12, at the National Theatre Complex, Lagos. By Thursday, April 17, it had shifted to NTA, Abuja.

On Saturday, April 19, a symposium on the theme of the celebration held at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan. Things Fall Apart was also staged at the Cultural Centre, Mokola, Ibadan, courtesy of Jos Repertory Theatre.

On Wednesday, April 23, there was an excursion to Ogidi, Achebe's ancestral home, and visits to historical places in Anambra State. The major event of the anniversary was the international colloquium, which held from Friday, April 25 to 26 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Wale Okediran, ANA president, said the association had decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart because the book had become a phenomenon, which had garnered for itself, as well as its author, accolades, honorary doctorate awards and a worldwide celebration in over 30 international languages.

It is also meant to draw attention, once again, to African and, specifically, Nigerian literature, to act as a form of inspiration to the up and coming Nigerian authors and to join the world in celebrating this remarkable work.

Though the celebrations held in five locations, the choice of Nsukka for the grand finale, said Okediran, was predicated on the fact that UNN was Achebe's last place of work where he still holds the chair of a professor emeritus.

The Northern Nigeria Writers' Summit instituted by the northern chapters of ANA made its first outing. The Niger State chapter of ANA, generously supported by the Niger State government, hosted the summit. The event held in Minna, Niger State capital, between May 4 and 7, under the theme, Sustaining Creative Writing in Northern Nigeria.

Former ANA president, Alhaji Abubakar Gimba, while welcoming delegates, explained the objective of the summit, saying it aimed at projecting the Northern writing within the context of Nigerian literature.

Okediran, at the event, disclosed that ANA would celebrate the life and works of notable authors of Northern extraction this year.

He also affirmed that the association would inaugurate Arewa Children Literary Series to publish manuscripts in the genre of children's literature authored by Northern writers.

Pyramid, an anthology of poetry by Northern Nigeria writers, was presented at the event.

The first Garden City Literary Festival was held at the University of Port Harcourt between September 24 and 27. The theme of the festival was Writers without Borders.

Proposed to be a yearly event in Port Harcourt, the festival was organised by Rainbow Book Club, promoters of the Get Nigeria reading Again! campaign.

The major sponsor of the event was the Rivers State government, which is currently giving priority to education and social development. Other partners were ANA and Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN).

The event was a massive gathering of writers from different genres, academia and journalism. It had in attendance the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Elechi Amadi, Kofi Awonoor, Okey Ndibe, an American writer, Petrina Cruckford and Kaine Agary, among others.

The theme, Writers without Borders, was selected to reflect the influence of writers and their writing beyond genres, traditions, cultures and other visible and non-visible boundaries.

Creative writing and literary criticism in Nigeria also received a major boost on November 22 in Abuja with the unveiling of a package of initiatives by the Abuja Writers' Forum (AWF), which included writing residency, new national literary prizes for writers, prizes for literary criticism, and an international journal of writing, criticism and art - Cavalcade.

According to the President of the forum, Dr. Emman Usman Shehu, the writing residency and prizes for literary criticism are initiatives that are held for the first time in the country.

Shehu gave a detailed breakdown during the forum's first literary festival, which held at the main auditorium of the Merit House on Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja.

The writing residency, he explained would commence this year in two venues, one in the North and the other in the South. The new literary prizes, Shehu added, are the Cyprian Ekwensi Prize for Short Stories endowed by Emzor Pharmaceuticals; the Mamman Vatsa Prize for Poetry in Pidgin English sponsored by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC); and, the Zulu Sofola Prize for Drama.

Those for literary criticism are the Professor Oyin Ogunba Prize for Literary Criticism in Drama, whose sponsor is the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Nasir Arab; the Professor Ime Ikiddeh Prize for Literary Criticism in Fiction, endowed by the Akwa Ibom State government; and, the Professor Donatus Nwoga Prize for Literary Criticism in Poetry.

The 10th edition of Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), which held from November 7 to 9 at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, was also a unique celebration of books in the country.

Apart from providing an avenue to celebrate books and arts, LABAF, organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) has become a springboard to promote the new generation of writers.

Some of the books published in the year are Jumoke Verissimo's I am Memory (DADA Books),Crossroads, New Gong Book of New Nigerian Short Stories (New Gong Publishers), an anthology and just before the year rolled out, Ladipo Mayinka's In Depedence, Kunle Ajibade's What a Country, Tolu Ogunlesi's Conquest and Conviviality, a teenage fiction book published in the UK, and Toni Kan's long awaited collection of short stories, Night of the Creaking Bed, made the shelf among many others.

The runner-up, Jude Dibia, has done well, with an interesting book deal with a publisher in South Africa, for his second book, Unbridled.

The several events such as Wordslam, Taruwa, Poetry Potter and many more poetry performance events continued into the New Year.

Taruwa is a bi-weekly event hosted by Gbagyichild, which is spearheaded by Lydia Idakula. It is an event, which creates a platform for artistes to express themselves in an intellectual setting. It holds every other Tuesday at Bogobiri (No. 9 Maitama Sule - off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi Lagos) from 7p.m. to 9p.m.

Since it started, Taruwa has featured wonderful performances from different artistes, and very stunning poetry have been delivered, which have got the crowd yelling for more.

In July, a vast crowd of literature enthusiasts gathered at Goethe-Institut Lagos for the first poetry slam, Word Slam 1. Daring and tested young poets competed for the favour of the audience.

Given a limited amount of time, they recited and performed their recent literary works, backed with rhythm and music. In September, a new set of prominent, as well as up-coming writers also performed at Word Slam II.

Their poems addressed issues, such as survival, politics, religion, city hassles, hustles and bubbles, love and hatred and the general 'problems' of life. According to the initiators, The Cultural Advocates Caucus (CAC) and Goethe Institut, Lagos, poetry slam brings literature to life. "Thus, it stands in the tradition of West African griots and the troubadours of Middle Ages' Europe."

And lastly, it was the year the literary community lost the author, actor and theatre teacher, Dr. Femi Fatoba. He died in an auto-crash in Patani, Delta State, on his way to Beyelsa, where he was a drama teacher.

Guardian

Scholars and the general public are invited to submit essays on any aspects of the life and work of the President-elect Barack Obama for a book that is scheduled for immediate publication, entitled “Barack Obama and the Black World.”

DARKNESS fell again in the Nigerian literary firmament yesterday when veteran novelist, pharmacist and public commentator, Cyprian Ekwensi passed on. He was 86 years old.

It seems the gods of literature have officially tagged 2007 the year for the Nigerian writer. First Achebe won the Man Booker International Prize, then Adichie followed with the Orange Prize, and although none of them went on to win ultimately, three Nigerians were shortlist for the Caine Prize. Also, in an interesting coincidence, 2007 saw the publication of Helen Oyeyemi's The Opposite House, Biyi Bandele's Burma Boy, my Measuring Time, Chris Abani's The Virgin of Flames, and Ben Okri's Starbook.

 

At a reading in London recently a woman asked, jokingly, the reason for this preponderance of Nigerian writers in the news. Is it because Nigeria is more populous than other African countries or are Nigerians more clever? Statisticians put it at one out of every six Africans being a Nigerian; so if all Africans were writers, one out of every six African writers would be a Nigerian. Interesting, but it doesn't explain why the Nigerians are so successful, and not only in 2007 (1991: first black African Booker Prize winner, Okri, Nigerian; 1985: first African Nobel Prize for literature winner, Soyinka, Nigerian). Apart from being the most populous country, Nigeria is arguably Africa's most complex country. What these writers are doing is explaining in intimate, human terms, this complexity - and luckily for them, they are doing it at the right time, the time of the IT revolution. This means access to a wider audience than the earlier generations who were published by Heinemann African Writers Series and confined to the Africa section in specialist bookstores.

 

Recently I got a mail from a woman in Yorkshire saying that my novel has helped her to understand Nigeria better. She said what she had before was an "aeroplane-view of Nigeria", but my book has given her an "eye-level" understanding. To many outsiders Africa remains a complex conundrum, and most Africa-watchers agree that understanding Nigeria is perhaps the first step towards understanding Africa. Civil wars, dictatorships, poverty, and all the other favourite stereotypes of Africa in the press, Nigeria has them, but it also has what the press doesn't report, most of which is positive.

 

But of course writers do not write because they want to interpret their countries or cultures to readers, they just write what they have to write. But what defines these new writers (mostly seen to mean born after 1960), how do they differ from older writers such as Achebe, Soyinka, and even Ben Okri? Whereas it is possible to say that the earlier writers have their nationalist African politics in common, the younger writers seem to be less encumbered. This is not to say they are apolitical; they are very political - after all, the political could be said to be one of the defining traditions of African literature, but their politics are less unified, more individual, less predictable. This works in their favour because it frees them to explore more diverse themes. We see that diversity when we compare three Nigerian novels published between 2003-06: from Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail (2006) about the exploitation of the main character, Abigail, by family members in Nigeria and London, to Adichie's family tragedy in Purple Hibiscus (2003) set in Eastern Nigeria, to Oyeyemi's fantastical The Icarus Girl (2005) set in Nigeria and the UK. Thematically the three books have nothing in common; the only thing they share is their authors' Nigerian origin. These writers are stretching the limits of their country's borders, and questioning our stereotypic knowledge of that country.

 

For the sake of analysis I will divide the new Nigerian writers into two sub-categories; but I will first put them all into one broad category: they all live permanently or partially outside Nigeria. In the first category I will place those that were either born outside Nigeria, or left at a very early age. In this group are Diana Evans, Helen Oyeyemi, David Nwokedi, Segun Afolabi, Uzodinma Iweala, etc. Some of them, such as Evans and Nwokedi, are multiracial, and almost all of them will question the tag, "Nigerian writer". To them Nigeria is merely a fictional country where they set their stories, an echo from their parents' memories. Their characters often find themselves taking the plane to Nigeria to seek "identity", such as the characters in Diana Evans' 26A and in David Nwokedi's Fitzgerald's Wood. But this search for ancestral memories and family ties is mostly unsuccessful; they realise that home is where you live, where your happy memories were made.

 

The second category is of those who left Nigeria to pursue their writing career - most of them came as students or writing fellows and decided to stay on after the publication of their first books. These are people such as myself, Adichie, Biyi Bandele and Abani. These writers focus on Nigeria in theme and setting, and are very comfortable with the term "Nigerian writer". And in their novels the very anger and frustration that drove them out of their country has now become their inspiration. It is in their books, more than in that of the first group, that we get closest to the smells, sight, pains and joys of Nigeria.

 

It is not hard to see that the themes of place and identity will grow in the new Nigerian writing, because as these authors are forced to make their homes in the West due to their continuing success, they seek to imaginatively reclaim their country, and to rationalise their anger at their country for being unable to keep them, to fructify their aspirations. We see hints of these themes in Abani's The Virgin of Flames, set in Los Angeles, Afolabi's Goodbye Lucille, set in Germany, and Oyeyemi's The Opposite House, set in London. Oyeyemi's book in particular has nothing to with Nigeria or Nigerians - it is about an immigrant Cuban family - but in their discussions of place and displacement you can hear the questions

 

Oyeyemi is trying to answer for herself, about her own place.

 

The African has often been described as a natural story-teller. The Nigerian seems to possess that gene in abundance. Because most social infrastructures are stunted, and most dreams are never realised, the only way we can turn our defeats into victories, our fears into strengths, our shame into pride, is in our stories.

 

It is hard to say what the future holds for us. Already we are being described as the "next India". In terms of stories and ability we could be. But a lot of us realise that the Indians have one thing we don't have, a healthy publishing industry at home. After the withdrawal of most of the big publishers in the 1980s because of the failing local economy, a huge vacuum was created in publishing, and only recently has there begun to emerge an entrepreneurial class that sees the possibility of cashing in on the success of the new writers and using that to resuscitate our comatose publishing industry. Two publishers in particular - Cassava Republic and Kachifo - not only publish Nigerian editions of books such as Evan's 26A, Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, and my two novels, but they also fly in these writers on ambitious book tours. Gradually a local fan base is being established, a reading culture and hopefully a whole book industry is being revived.

 
Courtesy THE GUARDIAN

From Tunde Oyedoyin, London

NATURALLY, one hates being late for events and besides, it's unprofessional. Understandably then, in a rush to beat the 7pm start time of Professor Wole Soyinka's talk on Civilisation, dead or alive? I didn't have the time to congratulate myself for making it to the Royal Festival Hall on time, despite having a flat tyre to contend with on the way.

One was so much in a hurry not to miss a minute of the programme, that I didn't have the patience of figuring the particular hall being used. What mattered to me was that I made it. Where is Queen Elizabeth Hall, please?

The moderator started by tracing her friendship with Soyinka back to their days at Leeds University. Besides, she disclosed that not only was Soyinka honoured at being the first speaker at the South Bank Lecture, he had been given the liberty of choosing the topic he wanted to speak on. And having lavished a couple of praises on the literary icon, the stage light shone on his path as Soyinka strolled in elegantly from behind the stage, dressed in a simple caftan white top that complemented his recognisable Afro shaped grey hair.

Being a literary festival, the huge hall was dotted with intellectuals of different nationalities and not surprisingly, I saw more white faces than black. Sometimes you often wonder, where are our people for God's sake? Perhaps, they were out making a few bucks on a Saturday night.

Soyinka delivered his speech, lacing it with relevant anecdotes while attacking the West of destroying other people's civilisation. The audience responded, sometimes with laughter and in other instances, they simply applauded, as the renowned academic put forward his line of argument during that 45 minute well-researched delivery.

Of course, the audience had the chance to talk back during the Question and Answer segment and what a stimulating and lively session that was. For whatever reasons, though, almost all of those who asked questions referred to him as Mr. Soyinka, with his name being pronounced with a Western accent. After taking as many questions as there were, Soyinka subtly told the audience he needed to be released to sign his books and that he was longing to sip red wine as a matter of routine. Moments later, he was given a standing ovation as the first part of the evening came to a close.

A long queue had formed at the foyer, and all wanted Soyinka's autograph on the copies of his books they had bought. Some wanted more than his autograph, and he simply obliged by posing with them for shots. As I mingled with the crowd, one Nigerian bloke bumped into me after having his book autographed. He was all smiles and he said he had fulfilled a lifetime ambition. "I have waited for 21 years to meet this man," the guy disclosed, as his face lightened up after his book had been autographed.

As the queue became thin and the night faded away, I decided to pick the copy of his autobiography, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, only to be told that all of Soyinka's books had sold out.

As I walked away, the same lady ran after me, revealing that they had found one last copy somewhere. Of course, I went back to pay for that voluminous memoir, before retiring to the eating area for tea and lemon cake.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com

Chinua Achebe’s first novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, is a classic. It “inaugurated the modern African novel” (Showalter) and made Achebe the “father of modern African literature as an integral part of world literature” (Gordimer). 

 

By the numbers Things Fall Apart has

-         sold over ten million copies

-         been translated into over fifty world languages

-         been named among one hundred books of the 20^th century

-         been named among one hundred books of all time

-         been named, with the Bible and the Koran, most recognizable book in Africa

-         been named “ Africa ’s best-loved novel” (Appiah)

-         generated more scholarship than any other written African literary text

 

To mark the half a century milestone of the literary path-breaker in 2008, scholars, researchers, teachers, students, professionals, and general readers are invited to submit articles for a multiple volume critical anthology on Things Fall Apart. Contributors are encouraged to be innovative and adventurous in their exploration, with the singular aim of eliciting the novel’s uniqueness, impact, influence, and continuity. Among others, submissions may consider Things Fall Apart in relation to any one of the following:

-         Discourse and theory – including postcolonialism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, structuralism, Marxism, feminism, and Afrocentrism

-         Diaspora, migration, hybridity, exile, alienation, nationality, and citizenship; race, ethnicity, community, globalization, other, and difference; gender, sexuality, and minority; sports, war, and genocide

-         Environment, consumerism, nature, the animal, and the supernatural

-         Language and linguistics; translation and multilingualism

-         Influences, confluences, congruences, analogies, historicism, and plagiarism

-         Art, architecture, painting, mask, fetish, images, and visual culture; festivals and carnivals; music, song, dance, and theater; proverbs, idioms, and tales; text, textuality, and authorship

-         Culture and multiculturalism; rituals, customs, ceremonies, and hospitality   

-         Communication – space, travel, transportation, radio, television, computer, telephone, cellphone, iPhone, Internet, dream, and telepathy      

-         Comparison – literary, history, teaching, medicine, anthropology, law, politics, religion, philosophy, journalism, science, and technology   

 

Required: Submissions should be either in English or French language, no longer than 18 pages of A4 paper, in the MLA style, on Microsoft Word, and Emailed as attachment to: tfaat50@yahoo.com. Each contributor could submit no more than two different essays. Previously published essays are welcome if copyright is with author.

Deadlines: Proposal submissions are due September 15, 2007. Full paper submissions will close at 12 midnight, November 15, 2007.

Publication date: March 2008.

Editors:

Victor O. Aire, Languages & Linguistics, University of Jos , Nigeria

S. O. O. Amali, Vice Chancellor/President, University of Ilorin , Nigeria  

Glen P. Bush, English, Heartland Community College , Normal , IL , US

Augustine-Ufua Enahoro, Theater Arts & Communication, Univ. of Jos , Nigeria

Okey Ndibe, English, Trinity College , Hartford , CT , US

Obiwu, Writing Center, Central State University , Wilberforce , OH , US

Olu Oguibe, Art & African American Studies, University of Connecticut , Storrs , CT , US

Kanchana Ugbabe, English, University of Jos , Nigeria

 

Obiwu Iwuanyanwu
PO Box 395
Xenia, OH 45385
Phone: (937) 838-3116

Email: tfaat50@yahoo.com

ANA signs marketing MOU on Achebe colloquium

The National Executive Council of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) today in Abuja signed a memorandum of understanding with a marketing consultant towards the hosting of the “50 Years of Things Fall Apart”, a celebration of the life and works of Professor Chinua Achebe.

The President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Hon. (Dr) Wale Okediran, and the General Secretary, Malam Denja Abdullahi, and the Public Relation Officers represented the Association, while Mr Jude Emecheta signed for Mac Clemm Marketing Communications, the consultancy firm.

The MOU is targeted at ensuring that enough funds are raised for the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the most widely read African book, Things Fall Apart, written by Achebe, who was recently awarded the Man Booker International Prize. The novel heralded the coming of age of modern African fiction and signposted the rendering of an authentic African story to the world audience. It has since become a reference point for African fiction.

The “50 Years of Things Fall Apart” colloquium, to be held in March 2008 at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, would be the second to be held by the ANA in honour of Nigeria’s literary icons. Last year, at the Association convoked the “20 Years After the Nobel” Colloquium in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, in honour of Africa’s first Nobel laureate for Literature, Prof Wole Soyinka, a ceremony that drew literary critics and icons like fellow laureate Nadine Gordimer of South Africa, Prof Atukwei Okai of Ghana, and Prof Biodun Jeyifo. The Achebe Colloquium is expected to have in attendance Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ernest Emenyonu and a host of others.

Hyacinth Obunseh

PRO (South)

Uganda’s Monica Arac de Nyeko has won the 2007 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for Jambula Tree from ‘African Love Stories’, Ayebia Clarke Publishing 2006. The Chair of Judges, Jamal Mahjoub from Sudan, announced Monica as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held this evening (Monday, 9 July) in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Jamal Mahjoub described her story as “a witty and touching portrait of a community which is affected forever by a love which blossoms between two adolescents”.

Monica Arac de Nyeko was born in Uganda . She studied at Makerere and Groningen universities for a degree in Education and an MA in Humanitarian Assistance. She is a member of the Uganda Women Writers Association (FEMRITE), was a literature and English language teacher at St Mary College, Kisubi, an Early Warning Consultant in Rome and later a Reports Officer in Khartoum. She has been a Fellow on the British Council’s Crossing Borders programme and was also shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2004 for Strange Fruit. Her short stories Jazz, Miracles and Dreams and City Link are soon to be published.

Also on this year’s shortlist were:

 Uwem Akpan (Nigeria), ‘My Parents Bedroom’ The New Yorker June 12, 2006
 
 E.C Osondu (Nigeria) ‘Jimmy Carter’s Eyes’, AGNI Fiction Online 2006
 
 Henrietta Rose-Innes (South Africa) ‘Bad Places’, New Contrast vol 31 no4 Spring 2003
 
 Ada Udechukwu (Nigeria) ‘Night Bus’, The Atlantic Monthly, August 2006
 

Kenyan Billy Kahora’s ‘Treadmill Love’ from ‘The Obituary Tango’ Jacana/New Internationalist 2006, came in as highly commended by this year’s judges.

This year the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC , as a ‘Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence’. The award will cover all travel and living expenses.

http://www.caineprize.com/

The SUN asks the Literary community

Against the backdrop of the comparisons being made by a school of thought between Chimamanda Adichie and Chinua Achebe, Sunday Sun sought the opinion of some leading Nigerian writers from across the globe.

Though the writers are thrilled by her extraordinary literary achievement, they see the writers as two different people with different personalities and achievements that cannot be compared.

Niyi Osundare, New Orleans, USA
Achebe is Achebe. Chimamanda is Chimamanda: two vital links in a long literary chain. None is a reincarnation of the other. Let’s allow Chimamanda her own autonomous identity. The prize is well deserved for a vastly talented, conscientious writer. Keep your level head, beautiful sister. Keep your fiction close to the fact of our lives. There is something so enduring, so sage-like about your voice. Thanks for this bright streak in our era of darkness. Now forget the prize and move on to the next story. More power to your pen.

Tanure Ojaide, Northern Carolina, USA
There can be no new Achebe, more so he is very much alive. Still, Chimamanda Adichie is a significant new voice that is blazing a new trail in fiction writing as Achebe did in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Chimamanda is Chimamanda by her own right. Adichie makes every Nigerian, albeit African, proud with her creative talent. Winning the Orange Prize with her new novel (from a list of strong writers) draws attention to new African writings as a force to reckon with. I am particularly impressed by her self-confidence and modesty. She definitely will go very far with her writing. Adichie has contributed immensely to the African literary renaissance. All of us, young and older writers, should congratulate Chimamanda on putting herself and Nigerian literature in the limelight. This is the sort of happy news that we need to hear about our fellow writers. We should all celebrate.

Chris Abani, New York, USA
No, Chimamanda is not the new Achebe. As flattering a comparison as that is, and one can see where the work inevitably dialogues with Achebe's (as all Nigerian novelist must as some point), Chimamanda is the new Chimamanda. She is a writer in her own right, with a very clear voice all her own, and an aesthetic that is at once highly individual at the same time, very much within the tradition that we all come from. Chimamanda's Orange Prize is well deserved. When a writer focuses on craft and content, with integrity, in keeping with a deep tradition, then excellence is inevitable. I heartily congratulate her on this honour and many more will still come.

Akachi Ezeigbo, London, UK
Chimamanda is herself and I cannot regard her as a new Achebe. She is a unique fresh voice in Nigeria's burgeoning literary tradition. But you could say, of course, that she is building on the structure left by masters like Achebe (who has just won the Man Booker Prize for his overall work. great news, eh? What an achievement for Achebe!). I am delighted that Chimamanda Adichie won the 2007 Orange Prize. I believe she deserved to win, for I read the other shortlisted books – that is the advantage of being here in the UK at the moment. They are all excellent novels, but hers is the best among them. Nigeria should be proud of her. I think she is an inspiration not only to Nigeria's younger writers but also to the older and established writers. I wish her more success in the future.

Hope Eghagha, Lagos, Nigeria
Chimamanda has proved by her second novel that Purple Hibiscus was not a fluke; the Orange Prize has confirmed once again her skill and competence in the art of the narrative. But it also underscores the need for the publishing industry to be revived in Nigeria. With real publishing and marketing dead, how can Nigerians at home get the type of exposure which Chimamanda currently has? If she had remained in Nsukka, would she have won the prize? I congratulate Chimamanda and use the opportunity to remind the powers-that-be in Nigeria that it is not the much-touted science that has brought fame to Nigeria; it is literature which they have no respect for. A thinking continent would have replaced Heinemann with a sponsored outfit when the former closed shop on the African Writers Series. This is the time to return to the drawing board and find out where the rain began to beat us. Books written by Nigerians at home need to be marketed abroad.

Uche Nduka, Bremen, Germany
Bloody hell No! Achebe is inimitable and irreplaceable. However, this is a wonderful time for contemporary Nigerian literature. This prize, in a small way, celebrates the ebullience, relevance, and world reach of the literature being created by us. It should not be overcelebrated, however. There is still too much work waiting for us to do. Chimamanda deserves to be hailed for Half of a Yellow Sun. No matter how fitting the present noise is regarding the Orange Prize, we should all aim higher, and we should not be prize-obsessed. I lift my toast!

Maxim Uzoatu, Lagos, Nigeria
Chimamanda is Chimamanda, and not the new Achebe. There is no need for a new Achebe; the great man has done his work and he is inimitable. Russia did not aspire to get the new Tolstoy or the new Dostoyevsky. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is blazing her own trail; and I am drinking to her great health!

I was in my home state of Anambra, a beloved state I share with our beloved Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, when the news of the Orange Prize triumph came my way. In the company of my younger brother, Isidore Emeka Uzoatu, author of the novel, Vision Impossible. I threw an instant party in which one of our guests passed the night on his vomit! We were that gone in happiness for our own dear Chimamanda, the very owner of the printed word! It's a pity I've never ever met her in person, but, as the one and only god of poetry, I plan forthwith to meet her (and her people) and promptly pay her bride price! Yes-o, in Igboland, a man with only one wife is never addressed as Nna-anyi (Our Father)! Thanks, darling Chimamanda, for making me Nna-anyi!

Obiwu Iwuanyanwu, Ohio, USA
The winning of the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, is a matter for serious reflection. Now we will have to address the significance of Adichie in contemporary Nigerian literary praxis. We will have to ask why Nigerian literature has been in the doldrums since Wole Soyinka's Nobel Prize in 1986 and Ben Okri's Booker Prize in 1991. What made the writing of the third generation's Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Christopher Okigbo as globally commanding as the writing of the first generation's Olaudah Equiano? What made the writing of the second generation as weak as the writing of the fourth generation and much of the fifth generation?

Adichie has rediscovered the magic of great art and serious discourse. She has eschewed pretentiousness and self-flagellation; she has taken the bull by the horn, called a spade a spade, mocked national injustice and travesty, and given hope to the faint in spirit. She has not asked for charity and has not hidden her disgust for the debasing mess of porridge in which many self-adulating "writers" have stewed themselves.
Adichie prides herself as a child who was raised in the faculty house at Nsukka which was previously occupied by Achebe and Michael J. C. Echeruo. She has carved her art as "the branch of a giant fennel" which was the fountain of Achebe, Soyinka, and Okigbo's discursive thriller. Like the three elders she has drawn her subjects on a historical national dilemma. Her direct model in Africa is none other than Nadine Gordimer.

As Achebe says of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, Adichie has washed her hands and dined with elders. I toast Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's winning of the 2007 Orange Prize in honor of the one who "came almost fully made." I toast for the re-centering of serious discourse in Nigerian and African literature. I toast for the global acclaim of Half of a Yellow Sun and the emergence of Biafran Babies literature!

Unoma Azuah, Tennessee, USA
Adichie's Orange prize is great news for Nigerian literature and writing. I believe the award would open more doors for Nigerian writers, especially women writers. I hope we see this award as an opportunity to work even harder. Kudos to Chimamanda, she has done us proud!

Denja Abdulahi, General Secretary,
ANA, Abuja, Nigeria
Chimamanda may end up being the new Achebe because she is a very good storyteller like Achebe. Indeed, it is great and gratifying to see a Nigerian writer being held up again for world acclaim.Chimamanda has come up to be a writer of immense talent that you can hardly ignore. The good thing about her writing is that she tells our own stories in ways that the world can connect with. That shows that there are still many edifying stories about us out there begging to be told. Her triumph also sends a message to our leaders and those who allocate resources in Nigeria to pay the requisite attention to the arts, and stop the sale of our national heritage in the name of privatization or commercialization.

Ogaga Ifowodo, New York, USA
The human mind’s predilection for comparisons is understandable, since we try to understand the new way of the old, by the reassuring grid of that which we already know. But to go as far as saying that Chimamnda Adichie is the new Chinua Achebe, I must say, boggles my mind. Regarding the mere comparison, I would imagine that any Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda not excepted, would be gratified to be compared to Achebe. That is praise of the highest order. Moreover, in the good old African way, Chimamanda is Achebe’s daughter.
But Chimamanda is not the new Achebe. Making that claim when the old man is still alive is, to say the least, rather disturbing. First, it assumes that literarily speaking, Achebe is “dead”, spent. Yet we know that until the writer breathes his last, he is not done. The late British poet, W.H. Auden, put it more memorably: the work of man is never completed. At any rate, we hear that Achebe remains busy at his forge and we do expect him to give us the benediction of a few more unforgettable tales before it is his time to join his ancestors. No none should hasten the journey! As far as comparisons go, one thing is clear: there are bound to be thematic and stylistic affinities between Achebe and adichie, as between any number of Nigerian writers probing the same question in the same medium from the same sub-national cultural millieu.It is only natural, which is why we speak of “tradition” - in culture, generally speaking, literature.

By Hephzibah Anderson

(Bloomberg) -- Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, collecting 30,000 pounds ($59,775) and a bronze statuette called ``the Bessie'' after defeating competition from Anne Tyler and four other finalists in the U.K.'s annual literary award for women.

Adichie received the award during a ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall for her second novel, ``Half of a Yellow Sun,'' a haunting look at Biafra's struggle in the late 1960s to break away from Nigeria.

This year's finalists had a strong international flavor, both in their nationalities and in their subject matter. Contenders included Indian-born Kiran Desai, whose ``The Inheritance of Loss'' explores how globalization influences a Himalayan village, and Xiaolu Guo from China, author of ``A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers,'' a romance.

Tyler, a Pulitzer Prize winner, was named for ``Digging to America,'' which wryly probes the complexities of identity and belonging through the lives of two American couples who adopt Korean infants.

Adichie's ``Half of a Yellow Sun,'' a Fourth Estate and Knopf title, focuses on a small group of characters to describe the civil war that erupted in Nigeria in 1967, when the Igbo people attempted to establish Biafra.

At its heart are twin sisters, beautiful Olanna and homely yet shrewd Kainene. Both have disappointed their wealthy father with their choice of lovers: Olanna by falling for a charismatic academic with revolutionary dreams, Kainene by taking up with a struggling English author. Ugwu, a 13-year-old houseboy, looks on as political violence eclipses these domestic dramas.

Epic in its emotional scope, this finely crafted saga depicts massacres, starvation and forced conscription with heartbreaking humanity, grappling with colonialism and tribalism, class and race. It's also infused, miraculously, with humor.

Born in Nigeria in 1977, Adichie was an Orange finalist in 2004 with her first novel, ``Purple Hibiscus.'' The daughter of a college professor, she grew up on the Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria, in a house once occupied by novelist and erstwhile Biafran diplomat, Chinua Achebe.

She later studied in the U.S., where she obtained a masters degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and served as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton. She currently divides her time between Nigeria and the U.S., where she's pursuing graduate work in African studies at Yale.

Formerly known as the Orange Prize, the award is sponsored by the Orange brand of France Telecom SA and was designed to recognize novels that display ``excellence, originality and accessibility.'' The prize has previously gone to authors such as Zadie Smith for ``On Beauty'' and Lionel Shriver for ``We Need to Talk About Kevin.''

Adichie received the anonymously endowed prize at a champagne reception in the ballroom of newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall. Other finalists included Rachel Cusk for ``Arlington Park'' and Jane Harris for ``The Observations.''

Also presented this evening was the 10,000-pound Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. Now in its third year and open to debut works of fiction written in English and published in the U.K., it was snagged by Karen Connelly for her Burma-set thriller, ``The Lizard Cage.''