19 November 2015
Three South African writers have been nominated in what has been called the “world’s richest literary prize”, the International Dublin Literary Award.
Zakes Mda’s Rachel’s Blue, Mandla Langa’s The Texture of Shadows and Imraan Coovadia’s Tales of the Metric System are in the running for the €100 000 (about R1.5-million) prize money.
3 South Africans nominated for “world’s richest literary prize” https://t.co/frUtkVN3rc pic.twitter.com/9Y3RPqb5jR
— Books LIVE (@BooksLIVESA) November 18, 2015
Fans and organisations have congratulated the authors on social media.
@BooksLIVESA @mandla_langa @ZakesMda Congratulations. All nominations so well deserved.
— Pippa Green (@green_pippa) November 10, 2015
Congrats to @mandla_langa @ZakesMda & Imraan Coovadia on their International Dublin Literary Award nominations https://t.co/wkhtL8CS4I
— pen_southafrica (@pen_southafrica) November 10, 2015
The award
The annual award is in its 21st year. Nominations come in from libraries across the world.
“The nomination process for the award is unique as nominations are made by libraries in capital and major cities throughout the world,” reads the Dublin Literary Award website.”Participating libraries can nominate up to three novels each year for the award. Over 400 library systems in 177 countries worldwide are invited to nominate books each year.”
The winner will be announced on 9 June 2016. The three South Africans are among 160 titles in the running this year.
Other awards
The South African novels have already been given the nod on the local literary scene.
Rachel’s Blue won the 2014/2015 University of Johannesburg Prize, The Texture of Shadows was longlisted for the inaugural FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, and Tales of the Metric System was shortlisted for the 2015 Barry Ronge Prize.
African authors
Literary website Books Live made note of the other African authors who made it on to the nominated list in the International Dublin Literary Award.
They are: Moroccan-American novelist Laila Lalami for The Moor’s Account; Scholastique Mukasonga, a Rwandan author living in France, for Our Lady of the Nile; Ethiopian-American novelist Dinaw Mengestu for All Our Names; and Nigerian-born Helen Oyeyemi, for Boy, Snow, Bird.
The full list of nominees can be seen here.
Source: Books Live
