Bulawayo escapes humiliation, wins Etisalat Prize

NoViolet Bulawayo receiving her prize in Lagos, Nigeria.

Expectation met as Zimbabwean author, NoViolet Bulawayo’s Man Booker Prize-rejected work We Need New Names has been declared winner of the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature.

When the winner was announced in Lagos, yesterday Bulawayo beat Yewande Omotoso author of Bom Boy and Karen Jennings author of Finding Soutbek.

For the prize, Bulawayo gets £1000 cash, Smart Tablet Device

And published E-book promoted online and via SMS.

Bulawayo’s book was on the shortlist of the last Man Booker Prize, which included the eventual winner, The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton; Harvest by Jim Crace; The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri;  A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki; and The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin. 

Having come from the height of being the first African shortlist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize and put in the same entry for the Etisalat Prize, a loss was unthinkable.

For this great escape from humiliation, congratulation Bulawayo!