Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ayesha Harruna Attah, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Ghanaian author Ayesha Harruna Attah’s The Hundred Wells of Salaga and Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body have been shortlisted for the 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Also shortlisted is American author of Ghanaian heritage Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for his novel Friday Black.

Founded in 2003, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing is biennially awarded to newly published works of both fiction and non-fiction.

The prize, conferred in honor of Academy Award & Pulitzer prize-winning author and playwright William Saroyan, is run by The Standford University Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation. It aims to “encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan literary legacy of originality, vitality and stylistic innovation.”

There is a cash reward of $5,000 in each category.

The 2020 judging panel for fiction consists of award-winning authors Sumbul Ali-Karamali, Elizabeth McKenzie and Patrick Hunt.

The winners in each category, as well as finalists, will be announced in late summer/early fall.

Go HERE to see the full shortlist.

Brittle Paper congratulates Ayesha Harruna Attah, Tsitsi Dangaremgba and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah!