Noma Honourable Mention for Chris Mlalazi

Chris Mlalazi

This is big. Congratulations are in order for Chris, for his impressive creative journey from NAMA (Zimbabwe) to NOMA (Japan).

His short story collection, Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township has won an Honourable Mention in the 2009 Noma Awards, one of the most significant book prizes in Africa. The book was one of the four books shortlisted for the 2009 Award, chosen from submissions by 43 publishers in 12 different African countries.

Sefi Atta of Nigeria won Noma Award, worth $10 000, for her short story collection Lawless and Other Stories, which is published in the USA as News from Home. Tunisian writer Sonia Chamkhi’s Leila ou la femme de l’aube, and Love in the Time of Treason, by South Africa’s Zubeida Jaffer also received the Honourable Mention.

The other members of the Jury in 2009 were Walter Bgoya from Tanzania (jury chair, Professor Simon Gikandi (a US-based expert on African literature), Robert Schirmer Professor of English at Princeton University; Professor Peter Katjavivi, Chairman of the National Planning Commission in the Government of Namibia, and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia; and Mary Jay, Secretary of the Jury. The Award is sponsored by Kodansha Ltd, Japan.

Dancing with Life

The judges said of Christopher Mlalazi’s book: "Mlalazi’s collection of short stories is an important addition to the new writing from Zimbabwe concentrating on the social disintegration of the country. The stories stand out by being set in Bulawayo, drawing on the distinctive identity of a provincial city, its Ndebele culture, and its marginal relation to the centre. The success of the stories lies in the experiences of ordinary people coping with violence, anger and angst, rather than any self-conscious sense of form."

These kinds of awards reflect well on the publishers of the books. Dancing with Life was published by Bulawayo-based 'amaBooks, which has contributed significantly to the growth of contemporary Zimbabwean writing in English. Brian Jones, a co-director of "amaBooks, said that he was ‘delighted for Christopher. It is a major achievement for Dancing with Life to be considered by the Noma panel as one of the best four books published in Africa last year, particularly as this is his first book. We’re proud that we were the first to publish Christopher with a short story in Short Writings from Bulawayo, and we have included his stories in each of the subsequent books in the Short Writings series. To me, Christopher’s strength as a writer lies in his keen powers of observation and in his writing remaining rooted in his personal experiences of life in the townships. Dancing with Life is available from many outlets in Zimbabwe and, outside of the country, the book can be obtained through the African Books Collective (www.africanbookscollective.com)."

More information about Dancing with Life and ’amaBooks can be found on the publisher's website. website and on its blog.

In a statement, Chris Mlalazi said, "I am ...confident that my next book, which I am working on right now, is going to win a big international award." Why not? Chris is one of the most hard-working contemporary Zimbabwean writers and a promoter of the arts.

Comments

Petina said…
Congratulations to Chris. He should definitely write more stories like in Dancing with life.
November 3, 2009 at 2:16 AM
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