Unveiling Etisalat Prize for Literature Shortlisted Authors

In virtually every competition such as football, the finals’ stage is a very crucial one because it is the phase where champions are determined. This is why teams that make it to either the quarter-final or semi-final and the ultimate final are regarded as competition favourites.

Like in football, there are also three stages in most literature prizes that are very crucial to all stakeholders; they are the longlist, shortlist and the grand finale where the winner is unveiled. At these points, it is a clear case of separating the boys from the men.

The annual Etisalat Prize for Literature, the first pan-Africa literary prize that celebrates debut fiction writers of African origin resident anywhere in the world, adheres to a rigorous selection process from the beginning to the end. There are four stages involved: the call for entry, the longlist, the shortlist and the grand finale.

Launched in 2013 by Etisalat, Nigeria’s leading innovative telecommunications company, as a platform to promote creativity and talent development in Africa, Etisalat Prize for Literature has assumed the flagship status among other literary initiatives nationally, continentally and globally due to its wider reach, quality of participants and judges as well as the prize rewards for the winners. The literary prize also incorporates the Flash Fiction Award which aims to celebrate unpublished writers across the African continent by motivating budding writers to create compelling stories from an African perspective.

Just like the previous editions, the race to the2016 edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature has also got underway with significant milestones already in its trail. These include the call for entries held successfully from June 1stto August 31st, 2016, the announcement of the longlist of nine books on November 15th, 2016 and most recently the unveiling of threeshortlisted authors on January 4th, 2017 by the Judging Panel made up of eminent persons including Nigeria’s Helon Habila as Chair,South African writer/activist, Elinor Sisulu; andIvorian writer and Africa39 laureate, Edwige Renée Dro.

Announcing the shortlist, Habila said two Nigerians and a South African made the top list of three. They are Jowhor Ile (Nigeria) And After Many Days (Kachifo Limited, Nigeria), Julie Iromuanya (Nigeria) Mr & Mrs Doctor (Coffee House Press, USA); and Jacqui L’Ange (South Africa) The Seed Thief (Umuzi Publishers, South Africa).
The Chair of Judges disclosed that the shortlisted authors were picked based on originality, literary excellence and reflection of African perspective in their submissions. “In addition to originality of voice and literary excellence, our purpose was to also select a work that portrays an ‘African sensibility’”, he said.

Without any doubt, the shortlist has indeed raised the stake for the 2016 edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature as each of these three authors is a potential final winner. But in whose favour the pendulum finally swings is the decision of the judges. So, what chances does each of them have? Perhaps, a review of their credentials might suffice.

Jowhor Ile: Ile was born in 1980 and grew up in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where he still resides. Ile’s fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly and Litro Magazine. His debut novel,And After Many Days, set in Port Harcourt in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, tells the story of a family whose 17-year-old son and sibling, Paul Utu, goes missing during the rainy season of 1995. Burdened with the sudden loss, the family gets torn apart, as their search for answers uncovers family secrets.
Jowhor’s scope and feel for life that can be seen clearly in his writing. He presents everyday situations in a very dynamic perspective that keeps his readers glued to his story.

Julie Iromuanya: Writer, scholar and educator, Iromuanya is an assistant professor in fiction at the University of Arizona, United States. Born and raised in Midwest, she earned Bachelor of Art degree at the University of Central Florida and Masters of Art and PhD. respectively at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, US.
Through her creative writing Iromuanya is concerned with migration issues especially the rights of African immigrants in the United States. Her neo African-American advocacy has revealed much about longstanding intersectional issues related to race, economics, gender, and citizenship. While her work as a creative writer and critical scholar may require different sets of muscles, she values the ways critical inquiry opens up questions while her creative writing allows her to dramatize answers.

In her debut novel, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor,Iromuanya tells the story of Ifi and Job, a Nigerian couple in an arranged marriage, who begin their lives together in Nebraska with an outrageous lie: that Job is a doctor, not a college dropout. Ifi unknowingly becomes his co-conspirator — that is until his first wife, Cheryl, whom he married for a green card years ago, gets back into the picture and upsets Job’s fragile balancing act.
The 292-page novel was a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner Award, the 2016 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, the 2015 National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for Debut Fiction, San Francisco Chronicle’s Best of 2015, a Star Tribune Critics’ Choice, and Best Minnesota Books 2015. Her fiction has also appeared in numerous literary magazines including The Kenyon Review, Passages North, the Cream City Review, and the Tampa Review.

Jacqui L’Ange: Born in Durban, South Africa, L’ange grew up across five continents. She is a journalist, script writer, editor and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, and writes books, films, TV series and investigative non-fiction with focus on sustainable development and environmental issues.

L’Ange has spent over a decade as books and film editor for a number of magazines including ‘O’, the Oprah Magazine. She has also written and edited films and television dramas for the national broadcaster SABC and the South African pay channel M-Net.

Her first novel, The Seed Thief, was published in South Africa in 2015. The 320-page novel is an intriguing story of a botanist Maddy Bellani, who is asked to travel to Brazil to collect rare seeds from a plant that could cure cancer, and she reluctantly agrees. However, securing the seeds would be a coup for the seed bank in Cape Town where she works, but Brazil is the country of her birth and home to her estranged father. Maddy’s mission takes her into a world influenced by unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies and the selfish motives of others.

Certainly, the envious credentials of the shortlisted authors coupled with the glamour, pomp and the all-encompassing rewards for the winner and the shortlisted writers have raised anticipation among writers, publishers and literature enthusiasts from across the world over which one of them will emerge the ultimate winner of the 2016 edition of theEtisalat Prize for Literature. And this is just a matter of weeks as the winner will be unveiled at the Grand Finale in Lagos, in March 2017.

Commenting on the success of EPL so far, Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, commended the judges for their diligence in selecting the top three books out of the tens of titles that were received following the call for entry. “This is by no means a simple task. The role of the judges is quite enormous and we want to thank them for the attention and dedication to the entire review process which birthed the top three finalists”, he said.

While reiterating Etisalat’s commitment to continuously making impact on the lives of Nigerians and indeed Africans, he assured that the telco would continue to offer innovative products and services and more importantly platforms that enable people to express their passion and creativity. Willsher added: “At Etisalat, we have found the nexus between innovation and creativity. This is why we give people the opportunity to express their individuality and ingenuity so they can be the best in whatever they choose to do”, he enthused.
To further underscore the flagship status of the Etisalat Prize for Literature, Willsher announced that Sarah Ladipo Manyika will be joining other renowned literary personalitiesas a patron of the prize.

In line with the established tradition, the finalist for the Etisalat Prize for Literature will receive £15,000 cash, engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen and also enjoy Etisalat-sponsored fellowship at the University of East Anglia including mentorship by Professor Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland. In addition to the great rewards for the winner, all three shortlisted writers will also enjoy a sponsored multi-city book tour and will have 10,000 copies of their books purchased by Etisalat for distribution to schools, libraries and book clubs across the African continent.