Literature swept me off

New Literary Award for Southern Africa

JM Coetzee agrees to be final judge.

The South African Centre of International PEN (SA PEN), in partnership with HSBC Bank and NEW AFRICA BOOKS, is pleased to announce a new literary award in Southern Africa that aims to discover and promote new creative writers in the region.

The HSBC / SA PEN Literary Award offers talented young writers an exciting opportunity to launch a career in writing locally and internationally.

The winning contributions will be published by SA PEN and NEW AFRICA BOOKS in the first of an annual series of books of new creative writing, entitled New Writing from Southern Africa. For the first volume, to be published in 2005, the Award will be for short story writing. In future years, prizes will be awarded for the best contributions in genres to be decided by the editorial board.

International PEN, the literary organisation to which SA PEN is affiliated, has 130 centres throughout the world and has undertaken to publicise the new series in its global journal.

Nobel Laureate, J M Coetzee, has agreed to be the final judge on an editorial board which will include other prominent writers and publishers.

In a sponsorship arrangement which makes this one of the most financially rewarding literary competitions in southern Africa, international banking giant, HSBC, will provide cash prizes totalling US$10 000 annually for the initial three years. The winner of the 2005 HSBC / SA PEN Literary Award will receive $5 000 and those placed second and third will receive $3 000 and $2 000 respectively.

For the 2005 Award, young writers from South Africa and other countries in the SADC region are invited to submit original, previously unpublished short stories. All contributions must be written in English. The closing date will be 30 November 2004.

Contributors must not be older than forty at the time of submission.

Commenting on the Award, HSBC’s sub-Saharan Africa CEO Richard Adcock, says: “With achievement comes a responsibility to contribute something back to the wider society. Therefore efforts to share our success are a deeply ingrained part of the HSBC tradition. Education stands at the centre of the HSBC society philosophy, therefore we feel that sponsoring the HSBC / SA PEN Literary Prize offers talented young writers an exciting opportunity.”

SA PEN President, Anthony Fleischer, says: “We aim to promote the series widely in southern Africa in an attempt to encourage young writers to express the vitality and diversity of our new society. We are looking for creative material of universal literary appeal which will make compelling reading.”

SA PEN has published previous books of new South African writing, with contributions from distinguished writers such as Nadine Gordimer, Oswald Joseph Mtshali and Zakes Mda.

The rules for submission are available at the bottom of thsi page. For further information about the Award, please contact SA PEN Secretary, Liesa Jossel at 084 8432426 or email: liesajossel@mweb.co.za

For media enquiries, please contact:
Brian Wafawarowa, Managing Director, New Africa Books
Tel: 021 674 4136
Email: brian@newafricabooks.co.za

Lesley Lambert
Tel: 083 326 2500
Email: lesley@wisenet.co.za

RULES OF ENTRY FOR 2005 HSBC/SA PEN LITERARY AWARD.

1.Entries will be restricted to writers born in 1964 or later. Any citizen of South Africa or of the SADC countries is eligible to enter. Prizes of US$5 000, $3 000 and $2 000, will be awarded for the three best short stories (winner, first runner-up and second runner-up) selected by the Editorial Board.

2. All stories must be original works in English, hitherto unpublished, of not less than 2 500 words and not more than 4 000 words. No previously published work will be acceptable.

3. Entries should be typed in double spacing on one side only of A4 paper. Pages should be numbered and fastened securely together. No name, address or other identifying mark should appear on the typescript other than the title of the story on each page. Three copies should be submitted.

4. A covering letter with the name, address and photocopy of ID of the entrant should be included.

5. Submissions will not be returned, so entrants are advised to keep a copy. An entry implies acceptance of all the rules and conditions of the project. Failure to comply will result in disqualification.

6. An Editorial Board, to include Nobel Laureate, J M Coetzee, will be appointed jointly by HSBC, SA PEN and NEW AFRICA BOOKS. Judges will select the entries to be included in the book as well as the winner of the HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award. The Judges’ decision will be final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into. All entries will be judged anonymously. SA PEN and NEW AFRICA BOOKS will ensure that the name of the author does not appear on material submitted to the Editorial Board. Identity will be recorded by means of a confidential coding system.

7. In all cases, the copyright shall remain with the author, but SA PEN shall reserve the right to allow stories from the book to be published in the magazines PEN INTERNATIONAL or PEN NEWS or in anthology form. HSBC, SA PEN and NEW AFRICA BOOKS also reserve the right not to publish or award should the general standard of submission be unacceptable to them. Royalties on the sale of the volumes of NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA – 2005 will not accrue to individual writers.

8. Submissions should be sent to:
NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA
NEW AFRICA BOOKS
P O Box 23408
Claremont 7735
Cape Town

The closing date for submissions will be 30 November 2004.

9.NEW AFRICA BOOKS cannot undertake to make corrections or amendments to any typescript submitted. Nor, while they will take great care of typescripts, can they be responsible for any that are damaged or lost while in the post.

10.NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA - 2005 will be launched officially in 2005 at a time and place to be publicised. At this function the literary prizes of US $5 000, $3 000 and $2 000, exclusively the right and reserve of HSBC, will be awarded. HSBC and SA PEN will also have the right to be directly involved in the process of distribution, marketing and promotion through all media. The book will be marketed in this country and abroad, and will also be publicised by International PEN which has 130 centres throughout the world.

Children's Africana Book Award
"The Children's Africana Book Awards were established in 1991 by the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association to encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children's books on Africa. The awards focus specifically on books published in the United States about Africa."

Noma Award
Established in 1979 this award rewards African writers and scholars whose work is published in Africa. There are three categories for this award, one of which is children's literature.

Percy FitzPatrick Award
Percy FitzPatrick Award is awarded annually to the author whose book is deemed best South African Children's Book written in English.

Vivian Wilkes Award
Vivian Wilkes Award goes to "an outstanding illustrated South African children's book." Text may written in any South African language.

↑Book Fairs

↑Booksellers

African Imprint Library Services
U.S. bookseller that specializes in African literature. They have a section for children's books.

↑Events

Write for Africa
"The Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa is sponsored by Macmillan Education, who have been publishing fiction for children for over 40 years in Africa. Our aim is to encourage and promote the very best in African writing, and to celebrate the talent and inspiration of the many new and well established authors from all over the continent. The Prize focuses on the reading interests of children and young people. There are two awards for children's literature and teenage fiction and an additional award for the best new children's writer."

Journal of African Children's and Youth Literature
Edited by Osayimwense Osa. Benin City: Paramount Publishers. Annual. 1989-present. ISSN 0795-4506.

Research in African Literatures
Research in African Literatures is the premier journal of African literary studies worldwide. Reviews of scholarly books are included in each issue. Offers articles on African children's literature and scholarly works on the topic. ISSN 0034-5210

Sankofa: A Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature
"Sankofa is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at a diverse audience of teachers, students, librarians, researchers, writers, illustrators, editors, and publishers worldwide. The name of the journal is taken from an Akan word meaning "going back to the past" or "retrieving what is left behind." Sankofa's primary objectives are to offer a variety of perspectives on children's and young adult literature about Africa; to identify common inaccuracies, stereotypes, and biases in books set in Africa; to provide readers with in-depth book reviews and scholarly articles on emerging trends in African and African diaspora literatures; and to stimulate a global conversation on the comparative patterns in the representation of children in literature."

World Press Assocation: Africa
World Press Review (WPR), a journal providing a platform for ideas and opinions on topics of significant international concern, has for the last 30 years, been the only magazine published in English that gives readers a first-hand look at the issues and debates that occupy the world's newspapers and magazines.

↑Online Resources

African Children's Literature
This web site was compiled by Lillian Temu Osaki, from the University of Florida. A bibliography of "literature written for African children by African authors either in the vernacular or in a foreign language. Osaki specifically focuses on ten popular authors of African children's literature, giving not only a short bibliography of their work but some background into their lives and careers.

African Access Review (AAR) of Children's Materials
Africa Access Review is a bibliographic and review service that specializes in the analysis of children's materials about Africa. AAR reviews are written by university professors, librarians, and teachers, most of whom have either lived in Africa or have graduate degrees in African Studies. This resource is particularly useful for librarians and teachers seeking to build collections free of bias and stereotypes.

The Electronic African Bookworm
Developed by the Hans Zell Publishing Consultants in Oxford. Their site provides numerous links to African publishers, booksellers/dealers, book fairs, and non-print material.

↑Organizations

Children's Literature Research Unit (CLRU)
The Children's Literature Research Unit (CLRU) was established in 1996. It functions as a Unit of the Department of Information Science of the University of South Africa. The mission of the CLRU is to promote children's literature and reading through study, research, programs, and promotion.

African Literature Association
Non-profit organization run by Drexel University. It is open to scholars, teachers, and writers from every country. The African Literature Association's aim is to promote appreciatation for the works of African writers.

Community H.E.A.R.T.
Community H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education And Reconstruction Training) is a UK based Registered Charity. H.E.A.R.T was established after Nelson Mandela was elected President of free South Africa. The aim of the organization is to help the people of South Africa overcome apartheid's awful legacy. The site features sections related to children's art and literacy.

National Library of South Africa
The National Library of South Africa (NLSA) is the primary repository for South Africa's cultural and literary heritage. The NLSA is the nation's repository for research and archives.

↑Print Resources

Granqvist, Raoul and Jurgen Martini. Preserving the Landscape of Imagination: Children's Literature in Africa. Atlanta: Rodopi, 1997. ISBN 90-420-0166-6 (HC); 90-420-0160-7 (PB)
See Osayimwense Osa's review in Research in African Literatures 32.1 (2001): 166-171.

Khorana, Meena. Africa in Literature for Children and Young Adults (Greenwood Press, 1994) ISBN 0-313-25488-5.
Comprehensive annotated bibliography of literature for children and young adults concerning Africa, African history, and its people. This bibliography includes entries for nearly 700 books written in English by both African and Western authors and published between 1873 and 1994. An additional 120 books are either discussed or mentioned in the annotations.

Khorana, Meena, Editor. Critical Perspectives on Postcolonial African Children's and Young Adult Literature (Greenwood Press, 1998) ISBN 0-313-29864-5. Series: Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies, 187. ISSN 0069-9624.
Presents a collection of essays regarding the current state of African children's literature from various theoretical perspectives, such as Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial. Authenticity and how Africa is presented in postcolonial African children's literature has moved from annotated bibliographies towards serious scholarship. The essays either take a postcolonial or revisionist approach to the study of colonial literature.

Maddy, Yulisa Amadu and Donnarae MacCann. African Images in Juvenile Literature: Commentaries on Neocolonialist Fiction. McFarland, 1996. ISBN: 0-7864-0241-5
Presents representation of stereotypes and historical distortions in African juvenile canon. Librarians, unaware of the misrepresentations in many books, perpetuate this myth because of lack of professional resources evaluating African children's literature. Provides alternative viewpoints promoting culturally pluralism and inquiry. This book serves to fill that gap.

Osa, Osayimwense. African Children's & Youth Literature. Twayne, 1995
See Meena Khorana's review in The Lion and the Unicorn 22.1 (1998): 136-139.

↑Publishers

Africa World Press/The Red Sea Press
Dedicated to the publication and distribution of books on the African World and to the publication of as many books as is feasible. The catalog includes a number of books that are new editions of out-of-print books or U.S. editions of books originally published in other countries.

African Books Collective
"African Books Collective, founded, owned and governed by African publishers, seeks to strengthen indigenous African publishing through collective action and to increase the visibility and accessibility of the wealth of African scholarship and culture."

Macmillan Africa
"Macmillan has been publishing books for and about Africa for nearly 40 years producing high quality educational text books and supplementary materials in all subjects and at all levels, from infant to tertiary education."