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The African literary award was instituted to recognize an African author who has taken a leadership role in promoting writing and literacy in their local communities, and whose work, having been read by Museum’s monthly African Book Club, has been seen to embody literary excellence.
The inaugural Museum of African Diaspora Literary Award winner is Rémy Ngamije, author of The Eternal Audience of One! Ngamije will be honored at MoAD’s virtual Award Ceremony on September 25th, hosted by African Book Club co-founder, Faith Adiele.
The judges, African Book Club Co-Founder, Faith Adiele; Director of Public Programs, Elizabeth Gessel; and Senior Public Programs Manager, Nia McAllister selected the following three novels and two memoirs for the inaugural award, taking into consideration the strength of the writing and its ability to highlight new stories, the scope and longevity of the authors’ community literary initiatives, and the potential impact of the award on said communities.
The five shortlisted authors are as follows:
- Sulaiman Addonia, Silence Is My Mother Tongue: A Novel (Graywolf Press 2020)
- Wayétu Moore, The Dragons, The Giant, The Women: A Memoir (Graywolf Press 2021)
- Sisonke Msimang, Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home (World Editions 2018)
- Rémy Ngamije, The Eternal Audience of One: A Novel (Simon & Schuster 2021)
- Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ, Unbury Our Dead With Song (Cassava Republic Press 2021)
Learn more about African Literary Award 2022 and the shortlisted writers here.
The African Literary Award finalist, Rémy Ngamije is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer and photographer, the founder, chairperson, and artministrator of Doek, an independent arts organization in Namibia supporting the literary arts. He is also the editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine, Namibia’s first and only literary magazine, and the founder of the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards and the Doek Literary Festival. Rémy is also the founding editor of the Doek Anthology.
His debut novel The Eternal Audience of One was first published in South Africa by Blackbird Books and is available worldwide from Scout Press (S&S); it was honoured with a Special Mention at the inaugural Grand Prix Panafricain De Litterature in 2022.
The 2022 African Literary Award will hold on September 25th as virtual ceremony in celebration of the author, Rémy Ngamije. The awards ceremony will include video clips from the five finalists’ appearances at African Book Club, as well as a live reading and conversation with Rémy Ngamije.
MoAD member, Cedric Brown, a supporter of arts in the diaspora provided generous funding for the African Literary Award.
Register for the ceremony here.
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