By Anita Eboigbe
Three Nigerian female authors, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Akwaeke Emezi and Diana Evans have been nominated for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction, previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Baileys Women’s Prize For Fiction, is one of the most prestigious literature awards in the world.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Braithwaite was nominated for her book ‘My Sister, The Serial Killer’, Emezi for ‘Freshwater’ and Evans for ‘Ordinary People’.
‘My Sister, The Serial Killer’ tells the story of the complex relationship between a glamorous Lagos fashion designer and her responsible older sister, who’s always ready with bleach and rubber gloves to help cover up a crime.
Emezi’s ‘Freshwater’ explores the multiple voices of an Igbo god living within a young woman; it used Igbo cosmology to reveal their experience as a trans African.
Evans’ ‘Ordinary People’ cleverly exposes the melancholy of suburban middle-class black people using celebrity events. The book opens at a party thrown in honor of Barack Obama’s presidential victory in 2008.
The prestigious prize has honoured many great authors since it was launched in 1996, including Chimamanda Adichie, who won in 2007 for ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.
NAN reports that it is a significant career boost and it comes with a £30,000 ($40,000) prize.
It was created after the Bookers Prize of 1991 where none of the six shortlisted books was by a woman, despite 60 per cent of novels that year being published by female authors.
Chaired by Prof. Kate Williams, the 2019 judging panel includes journalists Dolly Alderton and Arifa Akbar, anti-FGM activist Leyla Hussein.
NAN reports that Sarah Wood OBE, the chair and co-founder of the global video advertising marketplace, Unruly was also on the panel. (NAN)
