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<kate@booktrust.org.uk> Nadine Gordimer wins Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Prize- Africa Region Manu Herbstein wins Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book Prize - Africa Region The Pick-Up by Nadine Gordimer and Ama, A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Manu Herbstein are the African regional winners of the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize. The Pick-Up and Ama, A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade are now carried forward to the final stage of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, which will be decided in Edinburgh in April. They join books in each category, selected by the three other international juries, covering Canada and the Caribbean; Africa; and South East Asia and the South Pacific. ?10,000 will then be awarded to the Overall Best Book, and ?5,000 to the Best First Book. The judges of the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize Africa region are Professor Penina Mlama - Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Dar es Salaam and Executive Director for the Forum for African Women Edu cationalists (FAWE); Professor Vinesh Hookoomsing, University of Mauritius and Dr Augustine Mensah, University of Botswana. Nadine Gordimer The Pickup (Bloomsbury, UK) Who picked up whom? Is the pickup the illegal immigrant desperate to evade deportation to his impoverished desert country? Or is the pickup the powerful businessman's daughter trying to escape a privileged background she despises? When Julie Summers' car breaks down in a sleazy street, at a garage a young Arab emerges from beneath the chassis of a vehicle to aid her. The consequences are unpredictable and intense, as each person's notions of the other are overturned. The Pick-Up explores new territories of love and cultural encounters delicately mapped out by one woman's silent and deep understanding of human nature and behaviour. Nadine Gordimer's many novels include The Lying Days (her first novel), The Conservationist, Joint winner of the Booker Prize, Burger's Daughter, July's People, My Son's Story, None to Accompany Me and, most recently, The House Gun. Her collections of short stories include Something Out There and Jump. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She lives in South Africa. Manu Herbstein Ama, A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (e-reads, USA) Thrust into a foreign land, passed from owner to owner, stripped of her identity. This is the life of Nandzi who was given the name Ama, a name strange to her and her culture. A life of struggle and resignation, bondage and freedom, passion and indifference, intense love and remorseless hate. Though forced into desperation, Ama never lets her soul be consumed by fear. Her story of defiance and spiritual fire starts from the day she is brutally seized, raped and enslaved, and ends with her breathing the pure air of spiritual freedom. Ama, A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade is a monumental work, epic in scope and design, and clearly the result of extensive research, which has been skillfully woven into an enchanting narrative. This panoramic story, with its vividly realised characters and heroic action, restores the ancient link between history and literature. Manu Herbstein was born and educated in apartheid South Africa. He has lived and worked in England, Nigeria, India, Zambia and Scotland. Since 1970 he has made his home in Accra, Ghana. He first visited the slave castle at Elmina, Ghana, which features in this novel, in 1961. For more biographical information please visit www.ama.africatoday.com For further information please contact: Regional Chair: Professor Penina Mlama Tel 254 2 226590 - Fax 254 2 210709 Email: nthiongo@fawe.org Administrator: Kate Mervyn-Jones, Booktrust Tel 44 20 8516 2993 - Fax 44 20 8516 2978 Email kate@booktrust.org.uk Further information can be found on the Prize website: www.commonwealthwriters.com Regional winners for the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize BEST BOOK Africa Nadine Gordimer The Pickup (South African) (Bloomsbury, UK) Caribbean & Canada Alice Munro Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (Canadian) (Douglas Gibson, Canada) Eurasia Ian McEwan Atonement (British) (Jonathan Cape, UK) SE Asia & South Pacific Richard Flanagan Gould's Book of Fish (Australian) (Picador, Australia) BEST FIRST BOOK Africa Manu Herbstein Ama, A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (South African) (e-reads, USA) Caribbean & Canada Michael Redhill Martin Sloane (Canadian) (Anchor, Canada) Eurasia William Muir The 18th Pale Descendant (British) (Quartet Books, UK) SE Asia & South Pacific Meaghan Delahunt In the Blue House (Australian) (Bloomsbury, UK) The Commonwealth Writers Prize, established in 1987, is sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation and administered by Booktrust. Last year's ?10,000 Best Book prize was awarded to Australian author Peter Carey for his novel True History of the Kelly Gang (University of Queensland Press, Australia). The Best First Book prize was won by British author Zadie Smith for her debut novel White Teeth, (Hamish Hamilton, UK).
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