Mandla Langa for winning the best book award for the Africa region
12 March 2009
I am delighted that the award winning South African author, Mandla Langa,
has won the commonwealth writers' prize best book award, Africa region 2009 for
his novel, "The lost colours of the chameleon."
South Africa's creative talents are presently sweeping the board in African
film, literature and in music. Given the awards already won this year, it was
our expectation that the regional winner would also come from here.
Mandla Langa is one of South Africa's rising literary talents who was first
published during the 1980s. Since then his output has improved year on year. It
has now been crowned with a prized accolade from his peers among English
writers on our continent.
I offer him my heartiest personal congratulations.
Congratulations are also due to Uwen Akpan of Nigeria for winning the best
first book award, Africa region, for "Say you're one of them."
Each author has won £1 000 and is eligible to enter the next stage of the
competition to choose the overall commonwealth best book and best first book
winner, who receive £10 000 and £5 000 respectively.
The commonwealth writers' prize aims to reward the best commonwealth fiction
written in English, by both established and new writers, and to take their
works to a global audience.
Mandla Langa and Uwen Akpan join other winners from Canada and the
Caribbean, Europe, South Asia and South East Asia and the Pacific. The week's
programme will culminate in the announcement of the overall best book and best
first book winners in a special ceremony as part of the 2009 Auckland writers'
and readers festival in New Zealand on Saturday 16 May.
I wish both authors further success in this competition.
For any enquiries please contact:
Sandile Memela
Cell: 082 800 3750
Or
Premi Appalraju
Cell: 082 903 6778
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
12 March 2009
