NoViolet Bulawayo becomes first Zimbabwean shortlisted for Man Booker Prize

NoViolet Bulawayo has become the first Zimbabwean author to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Her novel We Need New Names was picked from a longlist that was “wonderfully various in terms of geography, form, length and subject,” chair of judges Robert Macfarlane said at the time.

The six shortlisted novels are by authors from across the globe, including Canada, Britain, Ireland, New Zealand and of course , Zimbabwe.

When announcing the shortlist, Macfarlane said: “Global in its reach, this exceptional shortlist demonstrates the vitality and range of the contemporary novel at its finest.

“These six superb works of fiction take us from gold-rush New Zealand to revolutionary Calcutta, from modern-day Japan to the Holy Land of the Gospels, and from Zimbabwe to the deep English countryside,” he said.

Of the six shortlisted nominations, Macfarlane said, “World-spanning in their concerns, and ambitious in their techniques, they remind us of the possibilities and power of the novel as a form.”

Paradise

We Need New Names tells the story of Darling and her friends Bastard, Godknows, Sbho, Stina and Chipo, the latter who is pregnant with her grandfather’s child.

The friends live in the shanty town Paradise, play games like ‘Looking for Bin Laden’ and try to get rid of Chipo’s baby. After Darling is whisked away from her friends, the first person narrative explores her new life in America.

TheSouthAfrican.com reviewed Bulawayo’s shortlisted book in June, describing it as “a work of outstanding quality from an exceptional talent. It’s like a mature wine; it’s ready to be consumed.

“She [Bulawayo] sensitively addresses issues such as displacement, delinquent fathers, incest, political violence, stigmas like AIDS and tradition. It questions themes such as colonialism, Christianity, dictatorship, immigration, and Chinese and Western imperialism. No subject is untouched,” said the reviewer, Joseph Nthini.

Roots

Born Elizabeth Zandile Tshele in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe, in 1981, NoViolet Bulawayo (her pen name) studied a BFA creative writing course at Cornell University, where she was awarded a Truman Capote Fellowship. She is also a Stegna Fellow at Stanford University in California.

Her other work includes the 2010 short stories Hitting Budapest and Snapshots, released in 2009.

Hitting Budapest won the leading African literary award, Caine Prize for African Writing, in 2011. Snapshots was shortlisted for the South Africa PEN Studzinsi Award.

The other shortlisted novels are 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 Tóibín.

In making the Man Booker Prize shortlist, each author has won £2,500 and a hand-bound edition of their book.

The winner, who will receive £50,000, will be announced on 15 October 2013 at London’s Guildhall.