Somaliland citizen Nadifa Mohamed was recognized as the best Young British Novelists according to Granta one of the 39 best African writers in 2014
An event was held in the Nigeria town of Port Harcourt, which is the capital of rivers state, Nigeria. It lies along the bonny river and is located in the Niger delta. The town was prepared by its self to become the World Book Capital 2014.A panel of expert judges to select the African best writers and Margaret Busby described how a panel of judges selected 39 African writers. Although many earlier occasions of similar nature were held in many parts of the world. However, the latest one was held in that Nigerian town, which is mentioned in the above. The panel of expert judges have short listed 100 nominees which was
recognized as Africa best writers. Subsequent of short listing the 100 nominees, the panel reduced the number from 100 to 50, which means half the names were shelved out. Among 50 short listed, 39 of them finally recognized as Africa best literary writing and Nadifa Jama Mohamed was among the finalist 39. Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa and moved to England with her family in 1986. Her first novel, Black Mamba Boy, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and was awarded the Betty Trask Prize. In 2013, she was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.Grants is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its “belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction,The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former common wealth. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the “Prize”, and the remainder given to one or more other writers, called the “Awards. The award was established in 1984 by the society authors.
Twenty countries are represented by work created in a variety of African and European languages .the selection process began last year, with Caine prizewinning author and founder of the Kenyan literary journal. Among the personalities present during the section process Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. According to the panel of judges, the decision of short listing the finalist African 39 best writers was based on fair decision and it was unique opportunity to showcase, celebrate and encourage a new generation of fiction writers. Nadifa first book was the black mamba boy (2009). In this debut novel, Nadifa Mohamed takes as her source material her father’s childhood journey across Africa, which begins in the Yemeni port city of Aden where ten-year-old Jama loses his father, his only emotional mooring in the world, and embarks on a great Odyssean voyage northwards, to find Mohamed, who is herself a child of Africa’s fractured history – she lived in Hargeisa, Somalia, until war drove her family to London – says that she felt compelled to record her father’s survival spirit in fictive form, and partly composed the book from taped interviews with him. Ironically for a daughter’s homage to her father, Black Mamba Boy is really a story about fathers and sons, and the bonds of love and duty between them. After his mother dies, Jama, bereft, hungry and alone in the great, troubled African continent of the 1930s, seething with its twin terrors of poverty and war, sets out to find his father – an inveterate dreamer – who abandoned him in early childhood. The novel won the 2010 Betty Trask award, and was short-listed for numerous awards, including the 2010 guardian first book award, the 2010 Dylan Thomas prize and the 2010 john liewellyn Rhys prize. The book was also long-listed for the 2010 orange price fiction. Nadifa father, who died on September 28, 2014 was a sailor in the merchant navy and her mother was a local landlady.
Nadifa Mohamed released her second novel, The Orchard of Lost Souls which is about Whispers of revolution travel on the dry winds but still the dictatorship remains secure. Soon, and through the eyes of three women, we will see Somalia fall. It is 1988 and Hargeisa waits. Whispers of revolution travel on the dry winds but still the dictatorship remains secure. Soon, and through the eyes of three women, we will see Somalia fall.Nine-year-old Deqo has left the vast refugee camp she was born in, lured to the city by the promise of her first pair of shoes. Kawsar, a solitary widow, is trapped in her little house with its garden clawed from the desert, confined to her bed after a savage beating in the local police station. Filsan, a young female soldier, has moved from Mogadishu to suppress the rebellion growing in the north. And as the country is unravelled by a civil war that will shock the world, the fates of the three women are twisted irrevocably together. Intimate, frank, brimming with beauty and fierce love, The Orchard of Lost Souls is an unforgettable account of ordinary lives lived in extraordinary times. In December 2013, Nadifa Mohamed was one of thirty-six writer and translator participants at the Doha International Book Fair’s Literary Translation Summit in Qatar. She was also selected to represent Somalia in the Hay festivals African literacy project. The names of the best African best writers and their country of origin are listed below.The serial numbering of the names does not indicate any importance from each other, as it is done by without rhyme or reason.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Richard Ali A Mutu (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda)
Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria)
Eileen Barbosa (Cape Verde)
A Igoni Barrett (Nigeria)
Jackee Budesta Batanda (Uganda)
Recaredo Silevo Boturu (Equatorial Guinea)
Nana Brew-Hammond (Ghana/US)
Shadreck Chikoti (Malawi)
Edwige Renée Dro (Ivory Coast)
Tope Folarin (Nigeria/US)
Clifton Gachagua (Kenya)
Stanley Gazemba (Kenya)
Mehul Gohil (Kenya)
Hawa Jande Golakai (Liberia)
Shafinaaz Hassim (South Africa)
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria)
Stanley Onjezani Kenani (Malawi/Switzerland)
Dinaw Mengestu (Ethiopia/US)
Nadifa Mohamed (Somaliland/UK)
Nthikeng Mohlele (South Africa)
Linda Musita (Kenya)
Sifiso Mzobe (South Africa)
Glaydah Namukasa (Uganda)
Kioko Ndinda (Kenya)
Okwiri Oduor (Kenya)
Ukamaka Olisakwe (Nigeria)
Ondjaki (Born in Luanda, Angola and lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Chibundu Onuzo (Nigeria)
Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Ghana/UK)
Taiye Selasi (Ghana/Nigeria/UK/Italy)
Namwali Serpell (Zambia/US)
Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria)
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (Zimbabwe/South Africa)
Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium/US)
Zukiswa Wanner (Zambia/South Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya)
Mary Watson (South Africa/Ireland)
Mohamed Yunus Rafiq (Tanzania)
Note: Nidafa is a graduate from the famous prestigious university, oxford . Oxford is the city spires famous and a place in history and it has been a place for royalty and scholars. It is a town since the 9th century although people believed living there before. Oxford town has a population around 150, 200 and accounted as number 52 largest city in UK according to Wikipedia. It is also recognized as one of the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse. Oxford university is the oldest one in English speaking world.
Ismail Yusuf.