Bomboy – Yewande Omotoso (Modjaji Publishers)
Daughters Who Walk This Path – Yejide Kilanko ( Penguin Books Canada )
Finding Soutbek – Karen Jennings ( Holland Park Press)
Sarah House – Ifeanyi Ajaegbo ( Bookcraft Ltd )
The Great Agony And Pure Laughter Of The Gods – Jamala Safari (Random House
Struik)
The Spider King’s Daughter – Chibundu Onuzo ( Faber & Faber )
The Spiral House – Claire Robertson (Random House Struik )
The Whispering Trees – Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Parresia Publishers)
We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo (Little, Brown and Company )
Lagos, Nigeria; December 20, 2013: One of Africa’s most innovative and fastest
growing telecommunications services company, Etisalat has unveiled the long list for
the inaugural 2013 edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.
The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first pan-Afrian prize that is open solely to
debut fiction writers of African citizenship. The Prize was launched in June 2013 and is
poised to become one of Africa’s most prestigious literary prizes for African fiction.
This judges for the maiden edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature included Chair of
Judges, professor Pumla Dineo Gqola; Professor at the University of Witwaterstrand ;
writer and academic Sarah Ladipo Manyika and Managing Editor of Kwani Trust Billy
Kahora. The judges received entries from across the continent and were faced with
the daunting task of selecting the nine books to cross the first hurdle. “I have never
been more in love with the range, depth and wonder that is literature by writers of
my continent. There are some writers that I feel really privileged to have discovered
through this Prize.” said Pumla Dineo Gqola.
Speaking on the Longlist, Matthew Willsher, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat
Nigeria expressed that the list is unique in several respects and would go a long way
in helping to accomplish the purpose of the Etisalat Prize for Literature. “The list of
nominees is unique in that six of the nine finalists are books authored by women; five
of the nine finalists are Nigerian citizens while the global perspective is covered by the
fact that three of the nine publishers are non-African,” he said.
The judges will now be faced with the next task of selecting a short list of three
novels at a retreat in Morocco this January. The shortlisted writers who will have 1,000
copies of their books purchased by Etisalat and go on a multi-city sponsored tour will
be announced on Wednesday, the 15th of January 2014.
The overall winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature will receive £15,000, an
engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and will attend an The Etisalat Fellowship at the
prestigious University of East Anglia mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of the
Last King of Scotland. The winner will be announced at the Etisalat Prize for Literature
Award Ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, the 23rd of February 2014.
The winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature Flash Fiction category , voted for by the
public, will also be announced at the award ceremony. The winner of the Flash Fiction
Prize will receive £1,000 in cash whilst the two runners up will receive £500 each.

I tip Bulawayo's We Need New Names and Ifeanyi Ajaegbo's Sarah House for the award. Goodluck to the others, though.

What of The Whispering Tree? I think that's another great book, what do you think