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Fiston Mujila, winner of the 2015 Etisalat Prize for African Literature

Brittle Paper readers were among the first to learn that Fiston Mujila won the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature. [click here if you missed it.] I posted a write-up on Mujila’s win a few minutes after the announcement was made. I also promised that once I received the official photos, I’ll make sure you’re one of the first to see them. Well, here they are! 

To get all the scoop on the award night, read a shortened version of the official press release below. And, of course, scroll all the way down for all the lovely photos from the event:

Poet and novelist Fiston Mwanza Mujila was on Saturday, 19th March 2016 announced as the winner of the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature for his first novel, Tram 83. Originally written in French, Tram 83 was translated into English by Roland Glasser and published by Deep Vellum. 35-year-old Mujila is the first Francophone writer to win the prestigious Etisalat Prize, the first ever pan-African prize that celebrates debut fiction books by African authors.

Fiston Mujila was announced winner by the Chair of judges, Ato Quayson, at the award ceremony held at Intercontinental Lagos Hotel, which was broadcast live on Hip TV and viewed by over 30 million people across Africa. The event was also live-streamed on the internet.

Mujila was presented with a £15,000 cheque, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück and an Iphone 6S. He will also have the opportunity to attend the Etisalat Fellowship, worth £13,000, at the prestigious University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, under the mentorship of Professor Giles Foden.

At the award ceremony on the 19th March, 2016 the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria Matthew Willsher, said, “We are delighted again to celebrate the richness and strength of African literature. Etisalat Prize for Literature bears out this year’s theme, ‘Representing the Diversity of African Voices’. Diversity is somehow wonderful in its own right, but its importance is not for its intangible beauty, it is that diversity is a huge source of innovation. Africa’s diversity is increasingly recognized as it brings new approaches to world literature while innovation is very important in the literary world.”

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