Contemporary

Call for entries: Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:30 Administrator News

The Commonwealth Foundation has made the call for entries for the new Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The prizes are part of a new initiative, Commonwealth Writers, an online hub to inspire, inform and create a community of writers from all over the world. Together with the prizes, Commonwealth Writers unearths, develops and promotes the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth.

Awarded for best first book, the Commonwealth Book Prize is open to writers who have had their first novel (full length work of fiction) published between 1 January and 31 December 2011. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £10,000.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £1,000 and the overall winner receives £5,000. The winners will be announced in June 2012.

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Storymoja Hay Festival 2011

Friday, 16 September 2011 12:38 Administrator News

The Storymoja Hay Festival brings together international writers and personalities to a temporary ’tented city’ in the heart of Nairobi where we celebrate stories, ideas, writing and contemporary culture through storytelling, music, books, live discussion forums, demonstrations, workshops, open mic sessions, debates, exhibitions, performances and competitions. More details here: http://storymojaafrica.co.ke/main/storymoja-hay-festival/

The festival runs from September 16 to 18th.

This year's speacial guests include Ben Okri, Chief Namweya, Tony Mochama

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BBC's African Performance Playwriting competition 2011: open for entries

Monday, 27 December 2010 13:09 Administrator News

BBC African Performance is an annual season of unique radio drama, which has now entered its fifth decade and has been designed to encourage new African writing.

In the past decade, African Performance has continued to reveal themes that reflect the concerns of the continent.

The plight of child soldiers, mob justice, people trafficking and prostitution, football fanaticism, internet dating and science fiction - these are just a few of the themes that have emerged from our competition in recent years.

If you feel that you can authentically touch the lives of Africans with your writing - why not submit your script for a radio play.

Please read the rules and follow the steps on how to enter below.

How to enter African Performance 2011

The play must be 30 minutes long when read aloud and must have no more than six main characters.

Before entering the BBC African Performance playwriting competition click please read the rules of the competition carefully.

This competition opens on 1 November 2010 and all plays must reach us in London by 2400 GMT on Saturday 15 January 2011.

You can send your play along with an entry form either by email attachment as a word document to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Or you can post your play to:

BBC African Performance

P.O. Box 76

Bush House

London

Your personal information will only be used by the BBC for the purposes of administration of this competition.

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Commonwealth Writers’ Prize --Africa

Saturday, 17 April 2010 08:24 Administrator News

Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2010 Regional Prizes were just announced.
The Africa prize is dominated by South Africa and Nigeria AGAIN.

Come on East Africans, lets go to work and do better this year.

Africa Winners
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubeni from Nigeria won Best First Book for I Do Not Come to You by Chance
Marie Heese from South Africa won Best Book for The Double Crown.

The shortlisted writers for Africa's Best Book were:

Trespass by Dawn Garisch (South Africa)

The Double Crown by Marié Heese (South Africa)

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

Eyo by Abidemi Sanusi (Nigeria)

Tsamma Season by Rosemund Handler (South Africa)

Refuge by Andrew Brown (South Africa)

Kings of the Water by Mark Behr (South Africa)

The shortlisted writers for Africa's Best First Book are:

I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (Nigeria)

The Shape of Him by Gill Schierhout (South Africa)

The Shadow of a Smile by Kachi Ozumba (Nigeria)