We are excited to announce the #EtisalatPrizeforLiterature 2015 Shortlist #EPL2015Shortlist pic.twitter.com/v8VTcgUf8D
— Etisalat Prize (@etisalatreads) December 14, 2015
Etisalat on Monday announced the three shortlisted books for its much anticipated 2015 Prize for Literature. They are:
Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo), Tram 83
Two friends, one a budding writer home from Europe, the other an ambitious racketeer, meet in the only nightclub, the Tram 83, in a war-torn city-state in secession, surrounded by profit-seekers of all languages and nationalities. Tram 83 plunges the reader into the modern African gold rush as cynical as it is comic and colorfully exotic, using jazz rhythms to weave a tale of human relationships in a world that has become a global village.
Penny Busetto (South Africa), The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself
Anna P reflects the past, present, and future of Anna P who lives on an island off the coast of Italy but can no longer remember how she got there. She comes from South Africa but has almost no memories of the place or people there. This meticulously crafted debut asks a number of difficult questions about the nature of memory: Who are we if we lose our memories? What does it mean to have no identity? And if we have no identity, no sense of ourselves, how can we make any ethical choices?
Rehana Rossouw (South Africa), What Will People Say?
What Will People Say? is the story of the Fourie family, residents of Hanover Park in the Cape Flats during the height of the struggle era. Which members of the Fourie family will thrive, which ones will not survive? Generously spiced with Cape Flats slang, the novel features vivid and gritty descriptions of the difficult issues faced by those living in this marginalized and disadvantaged community.
The winner of the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature will receive £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen and will attend an Etisalat sponsored fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland.
Congrats to the shortlisted writers!