The top three short stories in the Etisalat Prize for Literature, Flash Fiction category have been announced, including two Nigerian authors and one from Tanzania:
- “I Saved My Marriage” by Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (Nigeria)
- “Setting Babu on Fire” by Neema Komba (Tanzania)
- “These Words I Do Not Speak” by Irabor Ikhide (Nigeria)
These three stories were voted for by the public, emerging from the top 20 chosen by a panel of judges who came together for this new initiative from Etisalat, the Emirates telecommunications corporation behind the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
The winning author, to be announced on a date yet to be confirmed, will receive a £1 000 cash prize, as well as a Samsung Galaxy Note or iPad, and will have their published ebook promoted online and via SMS. The two runners up receive £500 each, and a Samsung Galaxy Note or iPad.
The winners of the main prize, Etisalat Prize for Literature for debut fiction – which sees two South African authors, Nadia Davids (An Imperfect Blessing) and Songeziwe Mahlangu (Penumbra), and Nigerian-American author Chinelo Okparanta (Happiness Like Water) on the shortlist – will be announced on Sunday, 22 February.
The prize for this relatively new award entails £15 000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia. The inaugural Etisalat Prize was won in February by Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo, for her novel We Need New Names.
Read “These Words I Do Not Speak” by Irabor Ikhide, one of the top three flash fiction pieces:
The air shuddered in the overbearing silence.
“I know you’re probably thinking it’s your fault, Gare, but
mommy left because she wanted to, okay?”Gare sat quietly on the edge of her bed. She was a most peculiar child. Her class teacher had remarked on her last report card: She does not mingle with other students, and when her parents had read it, they had shared a hearty laugh.
“Of course, she didn’t mingle. She’s Gare!” her father had laughed.
And he had laughed a little at first when he broke the news to her. When he sat by her bedside and said, “Your mommy’s run away, Gare. She didn’t even leave a note.”
It had been a most peculiar laugh, too. Gare hadn’t thought it an appropriate thing to do, laugh while telling her that, but she was not given to words.
In fact, she hadn’t said a word since she had been born seven years ago.
“Drink your juice, Gare,” her father cooed and he rubbed her hair affectionately. She took a sip, then a gulp.
Soon the cup was empty, and sleep wrapped pervasively around her like a bristly shawl.
“Go to bed,” he said, and he turned off the bedroom light.
What Gare didn’t know was that daddy had been under a lot of stress lately, and that a long time ago, since before she was born, daddy had burned down his foster home.
What she knew, however, was that her mother hadn’t run away.
She knew her mother was under a pile of earth in the backyard.
But she was not given to words.
Book details
- An Imperfect Blessing by Nadia Davids
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EAN: 9781415207154
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- Penumbra by Songeziwe Mahlangu
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EAN: 9780795704680
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- Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
EAN: 9781847088314
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