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On April 9, the shortlists for the 2013 Commonwealth Prizes were announced. 21 writers made the Book Prize Shortlist, including Sarah House by Ifeanyi Ajaegbo (Nigeria), The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo (Nigeria), The Great Agony and Pure Laughter of the Gods by Jamala Safari (South Africa) and Sterile Sky by E.E Sule (Nigeria). The Book Prize is awarded for first best book published between 1 January and 31 December 2012. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £10,000.



For the Short Story Prize, 19 writers were shortlisted including A Killing in the Sun by Dilman Dila (Uganda), Fatima Saleh by Alexander Ikawah (Kenya), The New Customers by Julian Jackson (South Africa), No War is Worth Debating by Tobenna Nwosu (Nigeria) and Take Me Home United Road by S.A Partridge (South Africa). The Short Story Prize is awarded for the first best piece of unpublished fiction with regional winners receiving £1,000 and overall winner receiving £5,000. 

Regional winners will be announced May 14th and the overall winner will be announced at the Hay Festival on May 31st. You can read more about the writers and their stories here (Book Prize) and here (Short Story Prize).

Congratulations and good luck to all the shortlisters!!!
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With the announcement of this years Commonwealth Writers Prize Shortlist, I wanted to know about the ones that got away. Just because they didn't win doesn't make them any less amazing. If I'm honest, I also wanted to know how far back I could go - if I could actually find all the shortlists from 1987 to 2011. I honestly have no idea if it will be possible to find them all, or how long it will take, but I like a challenge. I'm starting with the 2009-2011 shortlists  (is it considered cheating that I am starting with more recent years?). There were some amazing shortlisted books but I find it very interesting that majority were from Nigeria or South Africa. There is no doubt that Nigeria and South Africa produce some great literature, but what about the rest of Commonwealth Africa - where's Kenya, Uganda? Fair enough Sierra Leone won in 2011 and Ghana was shortlisted in 2010, but I do hope as I go back I might find more variety in terms of shortlisted countries. For now here are the 2009, 2010 and 2011 shortlists for the African region. 




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About me

Founded in 2011, bookshy represents two things: the young me who was so shy I escaped through books, and the older me whose shelf is always one book shy of being full.

bookshy is a space where I celebrate, promote and recognise contemporary African literature - although sometimes I go back in time to commemorate the greats. It is about the books I love, the books I have read and the books that I am dying to read.

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