The Namibian-Rwandan author Remy Ngamije has been named winner of the 2022 African Literary Award for his debut novel The Eternal Audience of One.

The award, in its inaugural year, recognizes literary excellence and community literacy initiatives. It was founded and is currently administered by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), with funding from Cedric Brown, an MoAD member and supporter of arts in the diaspora.

Ngamije was announced winner from a star-stacked shortlist that included Sulaiman Addonia for Silence Is My Mother Tongue (Graywolf Press 2020), Wayétu Moore for The Dragons, The Giant, The Women (Graywolf Press 2021), Sisonke Msimang for Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home (World Editions 2018), and Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ for Unbury Our Dead With Song (Cassava Republic Press 2021).

The judging panel included African Book Club Co-Founder, Faith Adiele; Director of Public Programs, Elizabeth Gessel; and Senior Public Programs Manager, Nia McAllister.

Ngamije is 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. Ngamije 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 honored with a Special Mention at the inaugural Grand Prix Panafricain De Litterature in 2022.

Watch a video of Ngamije in conversation with Adiele on The Eternal Audience of One here:

Go here to read more about the finalists. Congratulations to Remy Ngamije!