Sefi Atta wins Noma Award 2009

Our latest fiction title, News From Home by Nigerian author Sefi Atta has just won the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa based on a submission for the Nigerian edition of the book, under the title Lawless and other stories. Sefi - who is the winner of several other prizes including the inaugural Wole Soyinka Prize, which she won for her novel Everything Good Will Come - submitted the collection to flipped eye's fiction editor Nii Ayikwei Parkes for consideration for the lubin and kleyner imprint prior to its release in Nigeria and he was struck by her ear for dialogue and effortless control of plot and nuance. "I was stunned by the quality of her work; the characters jumped into view immediately and were utterly compelling. However, what really struck me was Sefi's versatility - her ability to inhabit character and place so completely, obliterating the veil that separates the storyteller from the story. We feel very privileged to have her as one of our authors."

The Noma Award places Sefi firmly in the company of some of Africa's most revered writers such as Mariama Bâ, Wally Serote, Dambudzo Marechera, Chenjerai Hove, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, all of whom have either won the award or been commended by the Noma judges. The citation for Sefi Atta's 2009 award confirms her place amongst Africa's best; it notes her admirable balance of content and form and the fact that she "does not romanticise or demonise the world of her characters: her genius is to deprive the stories of their sensationalism, allowing her to display complete mastery of her craft. One of the most original, imaginative and gifted fiction writers in Africa, and arguably the best of her generation." The full citation can be read on Book News SA: http://tr.im/DSX3

We hope to have Sefi in the UK to read sometime next year - in the meantime, don't let the book go unread. Buy it on amazon UK: http://tr.im/DDzs or on our site: http://tr.im/ETVW

posted at 6:46 PM