Sandisile Tshuma wins an Honourable Mention in the Thomas Pringle Awards

Bulawayo-born writer Sandisile Tshuma has won an Honourable Mention at the 2010 Thomas Pringle Awards. The award is for the best short story published in a journal, magazine or newspaper in southern Africa over the previous two years. Sandisile’s story, Arrested Development, first appeared in the ’amaBooks collection Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, and it was then published in The Zimbabwean, in the South African literary magazine Wordsetc and in the Kenyan short story collection for schools When the Sun Goes Down: Stories from Africa and Beyond.

The Thomas Pringle Award judges described Arrested Development as a ‘beautifully observed story of a journey – both literal and figurative’. They loved its ‘hustle, hassle, bustle and bluster’ and felt that the images and noise came across beautifully.

The winner of the award was Stephen Watson for his short story Buiten Street, which appeared in the magazine New Contrast. The other short-listed writers were Liesl Jobson, Arja Salafranca and Gail Dendy. Brian Jones of ’amaBooks commented that they were delighted with Sandisile’s achievement, particularly because Arrested Development was her first published story and in view of the considerable literary experience of the other short-listed writers.

Having been born and raised in Bulawayo, Sandisile returned to the city after three years studying Chemical, Molecular and Cellular Sciences at the University of Cape Town, to study Development and Disaster Management at the National University of Science and Technology. At present she lives in Johannesburg and works as Programme Associate for the UNESCO East and Southern Africa EDUCAIDS programme.

Long Time Coming has also had international recognition since it was published in 2008, being chosen by the United Kingdom’s leading progressive magazine New Internationalist as one of their two ‘Best Books’ of the year. The publication of Long Time Coming was supported by HIVOS and the Zimbabwe Culture Trust Fund.

2011 promises to be a good year for other Bulawayo writers. The rights of Bryony Rheam’s debut novel This September Sun, which won Best First Book at last year’s Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association awards, have been bought by Parthian Books for the United Kingdom, and it will be published there this September. John Eppel’s latest book, Together, which contains short stories and poems by John and by the late Julius Chingono, is soon to be co-published by ’amaBooks and the University of New Orleans Press.

Sandisile Tshuma's short-listing covered by Zimbo Jam and others

The short-listing of Sandisile Tshuma's short story Arrested Development, first published in Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, for the Thomas Pringle Award has been covered by various newspapers and websites, including Zimbo Jam. Zimbo Jam noted the impressive list of previous winners of the award, including Nadine Gordimer and John M Coetzee.

The Zimbo Jam article can be found at

http://www.zimbojam.com/culture/literary-news/2046-bulawayo-writer-shortlisted-for-prestigious-thomas-pringle-award.html

The short-listing is also covered in News Day, in The Chronicle and in The Zimbabwean

http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2010-12-06-zim-writer-shortlisted-for-top-award

http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=14401&cat=3

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36216:zim-writer-shortlisted-for-prestigious-award-&catid=70:sunday-issue

Sandisile Tshuma Shortlisted for Thomas Pringle Award

Sandisile Tshuma's short story, Arrested Development, has been shortlisted for the Thomas Pringle Award. The story first appeared in Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, and was then reproduced in the Longhorn collection When the Sun Goes Down for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and in the South African literary journal Wordsetc.

Sandisile was born and raised in Bulawayo. She returned to the city after three years studying Chemical, Molecular and Cellular Sciences at the University of Cape Town, to study Development and Disaster Management at the National University of Science and Technology. She has a keen interest in human rights and is currently engaged as a Programme Associate for the UNESCO East and Southern Africa EDUCAIDS programme. Arrested Development, her first and only published short story, looks with humour at the struggle to survive in Zimbabwe through the eyes of a student researching an essay on cross-border trading.

The Thomas Pringle Award, organised by the English Academy of Southern Africa, is for the best short story published in a newspaper, journal or periodical. The other shortlisted writers are Stephen Watson (Professor in English and Director of the Creative Writing Centre at the University of Cape Town), Liesl Jobson (South African poet and musician, winner of the Inglis House Poetry Contest and editor of the magazine Mad Hatters' Review), Arja Salafranca (South African writer and poet, editor of the Life supplement of The Sunday Independent, winner of a Sanlam Award for Poetry(1994) and for short fiction(1999), and winner of the 2009 Dalro Award for poetry) and Gail Dendy (South African contemporary dancer and poet with six collections to her name, with 5 university degrees).