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Thursday, February 5, 2009

JM Coetzee Could be Reading My Story at this Very Moment

....or so that is what my writing friend Petina Gappah says. One way or another he will be reading it and the question now is -what will he think of it??

YES!!!! I am a finalist in the inaugaral SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Awards. For those outside of Africa this is our new big cash prize. It is open to all citizens of African countries. There are 34 of us on the shortlist and all are read by the final judge JM Coetzee. The 34 stories will appear in an anthology too. The prize money is huge- 5000, 3000, and 2000 British pounds for first, second and third place.

My story is called Pulani's Eyes and it's about two women; Pulani the old woman with the questioning eyes and a knack for sorting out infertility problems, and Entle, the rich, wife trapped in her gilded cage of a life. MmaEntle drags her daughter north to the Delta in search of the magic woman who can save Entle from her infertility, but instead, Pulani offers Entle a colour-filled path to freedom.

Others on the short-list include Ken Kamoche, one of the writers included in the upcoming One World Anthology I've been involved in, and my writing partner, Wame Molefhe.

Good luck to all of us!!!
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12 comments:

  1. Tania HershmanFebruary 5, 2009 at 5:30 PM

    Wonderful, HUGE congratulations!!!! Good luck to all of you but this is already a fantastic achievement!

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  2. KarenFebruary 5, 2009 at 6:29 PM

    That's wonderful news, Lauri! Congratulations.

    (word verification: kingles. It makes me smile...)

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  3. LauriFebruary 6, 2009 at 9:04 AM

    Thanks guys!

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  4. mFebruary 6, 2009 at 9:33 PM

    congratulations Lauri. i'm in there crossing my fingers with you :)

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2009 at 11:27 PM

    congrats x 100 - best energy coming your way!!

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  6. AM-C February 7, 2009 at 8:39 AM

    Fantastic News Lauri. Congrats! :)

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  7. LauriFebruary 7, 2009 at 9:48 AM

    Mkha- saw you're actually IN there with me- fantastic! Good luck! The list has a lot of South African names so it's nice to see some of us from the rest of the continent slipped in. I wish they would have wrote the countries of the finalists. I'd like to know.Any other Zimbos there? For Botswana it's only Wame and I. I know there are a few Nigerians. I'm actually happy they let us oldies in this time, otherwise Wame and I both wouldn't be there and a fair number of other people.

    Kayt and Ayo- thanks for your support.

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  8. mFebruary 7, 2009 at 4:45 PM

    Hey Lauri,
    I didn't see any names I easily recognized as Zimbabwean, maybe somebody will surprise us from the English names, which would be nice. SA is truly ruling the list, they are not playing. You are right about including the names of the finalists, so we know who is what, and that could also inspire more submissions from the underepresented.

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  9. groovyoldladyFebruary 7, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    Goooooooooo Lauri!!!

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  10. LauriFebruary 8, 2009 at 6:49 AM

    Thanks Groovy. I'm not sure what will happen with all this good luck coming my way.

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  11. Dutiful daughterFebruary 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM

    I was very pleased to see that you were chosen and WAme, brilliant

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  12. LauriFebruary 12, 2009 at 8:00 PM

    Thanks Colleen!

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