Booker Prize recognises African women - 30th November 2020

Two African women were shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize for Fiction in a historic first for the literary award and a major boost for novelists on the continent.

Ethiopian American Maaza Mengiste and Zimbabwean Tsitsi Dangarembga were both nominated for the £50,000 prize.

The Booker Prize is the UK's most prestigious literary award. It recognises the best English language novel. Awarded annually since 1969, since 2014 a rule change has allowed any author writing in English and published in the UK to compete for the prize. Prior to that, only novelists from the UK, the Republic of Ireland or the British Commonwealth could be shortlisted.

Dangarembga, recently thrown in jail for peacefully protesting against government corruption in Harare, received her nomination for 'This Mournable Body', a follow-up to her 1988 novel 'Nervous Conditions'. It recounts the experiences of a woman struggling with life in post-colonial Zimbabwe.

Mengiste earned her place in the line-up with 'The Shadow King', a story of ordinary people rising up during the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia. She is the first Ethiopian writer ever to make the Booker shortlist.

The authors have also highlighted the impact of their nominations on the next generation of African authors.

"I do think that maybe it is inspiring for younger writers who are earlier in their careers," Dangarembga commented.

Mengiste feels that "it is a confirmation of the talent that exists on the continent. It is letting African writers know that their work is noticed, it is being read".

The Scottish American author Douglas Stuart won the Booker prize this year for his debut novel, ‘Shuggie Bain’.