Petina Gappah Wins 2009 Guardian First Book Award

I would like to congratulate Petina Gappah for winning the 2009 Guardian First Book Award with her hard-working short story collection, An Elegy for Easterly. Yes, hard-working, because this book has been very active since its publication in May; it has sent its author to an international book tour, has been on the short-list of the Flannery O'Connor Short Story Award (2009)and has touched the hearts of many readers worldwide.

The £10,000 prize is well-deserved, and I get the feeling that this is just the beginning of many things to come.

Here are the words of The Guardian's Mark Brown breaking the news December 2:

"Geneva-based international trade lawyer whose poignant, humane and funny collection of stories about her home country, Zimbabwe, has impressed critics was tonight named winner of the Guardian First Book Award.

Petina Gappah became only the second short story writer to win the award in its 10-year history, the first being Yiyun Li in 2006. Gappah's collection of 13 stories, An Elegy for Easterly, tells of the lives of people, rich and poor, caught up in events over which they have little control." Read more at the The Guardian.

Comments

Sarudzai Mubvakure said…
Congratulations to Petina, that is an amazing accomplishment and a job well done. Thank you Emmanuel for sharing the news !
December 5, 2009 at 7:59 AM
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