Saturday, February 16, 2008

FULL REGIONAL SHORTLISTS FOR COMMONWEALTH WRITERS PRIZE

From The Book Standard:

Forty-eight authors have been shortlisted for the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which is organized by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation.

Broken down into four Commonwealth regions—Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, Europe and South Asia, and South East Asia and South Pacific—two winners in each region will be announced next month and then those titles will compete for the £10,000 prize for the Overall Best Book and the £5,000 prize for Best First Book. In May, the finalists from all four regions will be invited to participate in a week-long program of readings, community activities and public events in South Africa. The overall winners will be announced during that time. The complete shortlist is below.
Africa

Best Book
Barbara Adair (South Africa) End
Ifeoma Chinwuba (Nigeria) Waiting for Maria
Finuala Dowling(South Africa) Flyleaf

Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria) The Hangman's Game
Susan Mann (South Africa )
Quarter Tones Zakes Mda (South Africa) Cion

Best First Book
Sade Adeniran (Nigeria ) Imagine This
Ceridwen Dovey (South Africa) Blood
Kin Dayo Forster (Gambia) Reading the Ceiling
Ken Kamoche (Kenya) A Fragile Hope
Sumayya Lee (South Africa) The Story of Maha South Africa
Carel van der Merwe (South Africa) No Man's Land




Canada and the Caribbean

Best Book
Gil Adamson (Canada) The Outlander
Erna Brodber (Jamaica) The Rainmaker's Mistake
Lawrence Hill (Canada) The Book of Negroes Robert Hough (Canada) The Culprits
Frances Itani (Canada) Remembering the Bones
Michael Ondaatje (Canada) Divisadero




Best First Book
David Chariandy (Canada) Soucouyant
Tish Cohen (Canada) Town House
Arley McNeney (Canada) Post Ameen Merchant (Canada) The Silent Raga
C.S. Richardson (Canada) The End of the Alphabet
Neil Smith (Canada) Bang Crunch Europe


South Asia

Best Book
David Davidar (India) The Solitude of Emperors
Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan) The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Usha K.R. (India) Girl and a River
Hari Kunzru (UK) My Revolutions
Nicholas Shakespeare (UK) Secrets of the Sea
Indra Sinha (India ) Animal's People

Best First Book
Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh) A Golden Age
Priya Basil (UK) Ishq and Mushq
Shandana Minhas (UK) Tunnel Vision
Catherine O'Flynn (UK) What was Lost
Jeremy Page (UK) Salt
JM Shaw (UK) The Illumination of Merton Browne

South East Asia and South Pacific

Best Book Award



Steven Carroll (Australia) The Time We Have Taken
Sonya Hartnett (Australia) The Ghosts Child
Sarah Hopkins (Australia) The Crimes of Billy Fish
Mireille Juchau (Australia) Burning In
Michelle De Kretser (Australia) The Lost Dog
Alex Miller (Australia) Landscape of Farewell

Best First Book Award
Steven Conte (Australia) The Zookeepers War
Karen Foxlee (Australia) The Anatomy of Wings
Sara Knox (Australia) The Orphan Gunner
Carol Lefevre (Australia) Nights in the Asylum
Marcella Polain (Australia) The Edge of the World
Stephen Scourfield (Australia) Other Country

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the books of Usha K R and she is a great person. The best part is her book 'A Girl and a River' is now nominated among the best 5 books for the Goldenquill award organised by Indiaplaza. She is one among the great Indian authors who is nominated for this award. You can find more details at http://www.indiaplaza.in/Goldenquillaward/. I think she is one among the best.

Anonymous said...

I like the books of Usha K R and she is a great person. The best part is her book 'A Girl and a River' is now nominated among the best 5 books for the Goldenquill award organised by Indiaplaza. She is one among the great Indian authors who is nominated for this award. You can find more details at http://www.indiaplaza.in/Goldenquillaward/. I think she is one among the best.