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| Songeziwe Mahlangu |
South
African writer and author of ‘Pen Umbra’, Songeziwe Mahlangu,
was on Sunday, March 15, 2015 announced as the winner of the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature.
He defeated
Nigerian Chinelo Okparanta, author of ‘Happiness Like Water‘ and South
African Nadia Davids, author of ‘An Imperfect Blessing’ to emerge the winner of
the prize money of £15,000 at the event which took place at the
Intercontinental Hotel Lagos, Nigeria.
Mahlangu’s
book ‘Pen Umbra’ reveals a touching story of the life of a struggling young man
suffering from mental illness in post-apartheid South Africa.
He said he
would use the money to support himself as he continues to write more novels and
also showed gratitude to his mother and the novel’s publisher.
Apart from
the money prize, Newswatch Times gathered that, the 30-year-old writer will
attend the prestigious Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia
where he will be mentored by Professor Giles Foden.
Zimbabwean
No Violet Bulawayo won the maiden pan-African prize,
the Etisalat Prize for Literature, which celebrates young and first-time African
writers’ published fiction books and
promotes reading culture in Africa.
Its organizers
emphasized that the prize aims to serve as a
platform for the discovery of new creative African talent and to support the
literary industry on the continent.
African
sensational singer, Angelique Kidjo, thrilled guests at the event with some of her
popular songs such as: Agolo, Wobolombo, and many others.
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