South African writer wins international award

Lidudumalingani, originally from a village in the Eastern Cape, has published short stories, works of fiction, and has had his films screened at a number of film festivals. Lidudumalingani is the third South African to win this award – Mary Watson won it in 2006 and Henrietta Rose-Innes in 2008.

Memories We Lost is a story about two sisters and the relationship they share as they deal with schizophrenia, and what it means to protect the mentally ill. The story, set in a South African village, exposes what it is like to live with schizophrenia in a small village, and reveals what happens when the mentally ill sister is left in the care of a local man who uses traditional methods to rid people of their demons.

Lidudumalingani says that the inspiration for the story was two-fold: “The first might have been mental illness, or at least the way in which villagers speak and deal with it. Then there were conversations with friends, texts and visuals that suddenly were on my radar, memories of extended family members who struggled with mental illness – many of them on and off and at varying degrees.”

As part of the prize, Lidudumalingani has been offered the opportunity to spend a month at Georgetown University as a Writer-in-Residence. He has also been invited to speak at the Library of Congress, the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, Storymoja in Nairobi and the Ake Festival in Nigeria.