Short Stories Sought by 'amaBooks

'amaBooks and Parthian Books are planning a book of Zimbabwean short stories, to be published in early 2011 in both Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.

There is no particular theme, but we would like stories about contemporary life in Zimbabwe, preferably of around 3000+ words.

This has been an on-and-off project for a while, but we are both now committed to going ahead.

The book is to follow on from the successful Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, which has had excellent reviews both inside and outside Zimbabwe, and which was chosen by New Internationalist as one of their 'Best Books of 2009'.

Please email submissions to amabooksbyo@gmail.com as early as possible, but before 15 July 2010.

2011 PEN/Studzinski Literary Awards

The South African Centre of International PEN (SA PEN) is pleased to announce the launch of the second in the series of PEN/STUDZINSKI Literary Awards.

Entries for the award for original short stories in English are called for from 1 March 2010 and AFRICAN PENS, a compilation of the short-listed stories, will be published in mid-2011.

Prizes totalling £10 000 will once again be donated by American philanthropist and global investment banker, John Studzinski. The first, second and third prizes will be £5 000, £3 000 and £2 000, respectively.

Nobel Laureate and SA PEN Honorary Member, J.M. Coetzee, will once again select the winning entries.

The 2011 PEN/STUDZINSKI Literary Award aims to encourage creative writing in southern Africa and will offer talented writers an exciting opportunity to launch or develop a literary career. Twelve contributors to our earlier HSBC/SA PEN series have now published their own books, including Ceridwen Dovey who won the 2008 Sunday Times Fiction Prize. Petina Gappah, an early winner, went on to sign a three-book contract with Faber & Faber in the UK and Farrar Strauss & Giroux in the US. Three of the five short-listed stories for the Caine prize for African Writing first appeared in AFRICAN PENS 2007 – the model for AFRICAN PENS 2011. The story POISON, set in a threatened Cape Town, and written by author Henrietta Rose-Innes, was chosen by J.M. Coetzee as the winner of the 2007 HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award and it went on to win the 2008 Caine Prize of £10 000.

Our 2009 project, led by author Shaun Johnson, received over 800 entries from writers throughout Africa, but this year we revert to appealing only to writers living in the fifteen countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC*). The genre is still the short-story, this time between 3 000 and 5 000 words.

Writers who are citizens of SADC countries are encouraged to prepare short stories for submission. Further information and detailed rules of entry are posted on the SA PEN website, www.sapen.co.za.

This September Sun Launched in Lusaka

Bryony Rheam's novel This September Sun was launched with a reading by Bryony in Lusaka last Friday. The event took place, during heavy rains, at Ababa House in Addis Ababa Drive.

The books are now available for sale at Ababa House, which the Lonely Planet guide describes as 'a smart boutique full of imaginative creations from Zambian and Zimbabwean artists, furniture-makers and weavers', as well as at Kickstart Books in Kitwe.

In South Africa, This September Sun, as well as other 'amaBooks titles, is now available at Protea Boekhuis in Pretoria, as well as in Clarke's in Cape Town, Adams in Durban and Xarra in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Congratulations to 2 'amaBooks writers

Christopher Mlalazi has been offered a Feuchtwanger Fellowship, a nine-month residency for a writer at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, California. The selection committee for the Hellman/Hammett grant programme, which is managed by Human Rights Watch, was asked to suggest a writer for the Fellowship and Christopher was selected.

The Villa Aurora is the former home of exiled German-Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. It is now an international meeting place and artists residence that fosters exchange in the fields of literature, music, art, and film. It was set up as a living memorial to artists and intellectuals who found refuge from Nazi Germany in Southern California. It also commemorates the role that these exiles played in shaping art and culture in their new home.

'amaBooks have published Christopher's collection of short stories, Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township, as well as short stories by Chris in each of the Short Writings from Bulawayo series and in Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe.

Congratulations also to Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, who has been invited to attend the next Caine Prize workshop. Novuyo has had short stories published by 'amaBooks in both Echoes of Young Voices and Silent Cry: Echoes of Young Voices. In attending the workshop, she will be following in the footsteps of others who have written for 'amaBooks, including Christopher Mlalazi, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and, last year, Thabisani Ndlovu.

Long Time Coming a 'Best Book of 2009'

Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe has been chosen by New Internationalist as one of their two 'Best Books of 2009'. They commented that: 'Each piece here – and they are miniature marvels, with no story longer than eight pages – vividly illuminates an aspect of what it is actually like to live in a country that has been systematically looted and stripped of functioning organizations. From a Zimbabwean publishing house, this book’s very existence seems little short of a miracle. '

The second 'Best Book' chosen was also African, José Eduardo Agualusa's novel Rainy Season, set in Angola.

The list of best books, films, music can be found at http://www.newint.org/columns/media/2010/01/01/best-of-2009/

New Internationalist magazine has existed for over 30 years and currently is the largest progressive magazine in circulation in the United Kingdom. It also has editorial and sales offices in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA  It has recently won the UTNE Independent Media Award for "Best International Coverage" for the eighth time. 

Christopher Mlalazi Interview on 'Conversations with Writers'

Christopher Mlalazi's interview with Ambrose Musiyiwa has been posted on the Conversations with Writers blog. The interview concentrates on his award-winning collection of short stories, Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township, and also on his collaboration with Raisedon Baya, which resulted in the banned play The Crocodile of Zambezi, as well as others.

In the interview, Christopher describes Dancing with Life, published by 'amaBooks in 2008,  as 'a reflection of the struggles and suffering of Zimbabwean people living in a disintegrating society with its farm invasions and our economy taking a nose-dive. I regard this short story collection as a series of snap shots of this trying period and I try to be as honest as I can in my depictions so as not to misinform readers. I try to be as near to the truth as I can get in the hope that this will leave people asking themselves deep mind-changing questions.'

The complete interview can be viewed via the link below.

http://conversationswithwriters.blogspot.com/2010/01/interview-christopher-mlalazi.html

amaBooks a 'Publisher to Watch'

The Africa Report has listed 'amaBooks as an African  'Publisher to Watch' - one of only 8 publishers out of around 800 in Africa. The other publishers selected are Langaa from Cameroon, StoryMoja and Kwani? from Kenya, Chimurenga from South Africa, Farafina Books and Cassava Republic Press from Nigeria, and Woeli Publishing from Ghana.
The article, written by Frank Bures in Nairobi, looks at recent changes in publishing in "Africa, which produces less than 2% of the world’s books, and where the continent’s 800-odd publishers face challenges unknown to those in the West: bad roads, terrible printers and a readership with little money to spend on luxuries like books. In recent years a new generation of publishers ... have been emerging, harnessing both technology and the global economy to put out books in a way that they never have been before."

To read the complete article, please click on the title above.