A Ugandan author joint scooped the Wole Soyinka Literature Prize with Prof Tanure Ojaide on Sunday.
Harriet Anena, a Ugandan author and poet is a joint winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature 2018 which is worth US$10,000, an announcement made at a ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria.
Prof. Ojaide authored ‘Songs of Myself’ while Anena wrote ‘A Nation in Labour’ which first launched in 2015.
“Super happy to be the joint winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, 2018, for my book A Nation in Labour,” tweeted Anena.
‘A Nation in Labour’ is described as a collection of social conscience poetry thatpaints a picture of the giant politician, the restless citizen, the clueless youth, those struggling to heal from life’s scratches and the ones hunting forwords to describe fiery flames of affection.
Everytwo years, the prize is awarded and this year was for poetry. There were 110 submissions from 11 countries on the continent including Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
The long-listn arrowed down to nine poets in the running for the prize was announced early inNovember before the shortlist of three was revealed later in the month.
Itwas judged by a jury chaired by Margaret Busby supported by University of Texas’ Professor Toyin Falola, author of A Month Sweeter than Salt and the Lagos-based international literary scholar, Olu Obafemi.
Ugandan Harriet Anena has been making a name for herself in recent years being shortlisted for her prose in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize this year and the Short Story Day Africa 2017 long list.