International Judges for this Year’s Bessie Head Short Story Competition

The Bessie Head Heritage Trust has been fortunate to nab three of Africa’s rising writing stars as judges for this year’s short story competition. The three judges who will choose the winner of this year’s prize sponsored by Diamond Educational Publishers are Zukiswa Wanner, Karen Jennings, and Fiona Snyckers.

Karen Jennings was born in South Africa but recently relocated to Brazil. She is the author of Finding Soutbek and the short story collection Away from the Dead. She also edited the anthology of short stories Feast, Famine and Potluck for Short Story Day Africa in 2013. She holds masters degrees in English literature and creative writing, both from the University of Cape Town, and in 2015 she will complete a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Zukiswa Wanner was born in Zambia to Zimbabwean and South African parents. A widely published journalist and novelist, she currently lives in Nairobi. She was listed among sub-Saharan Africa’s most exciting writers under forty and was included on the Hay Festival’s Africa39 list. Her debut novel, The Madams, was shortlisted for the K. Sello Duiker Award in 2007, and her novel, Men of the South, was shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Her most recent novel is London Cape Town Joburg (Kwela Books, 2014). Most recently she was announced as one of the judges for next year’s Pan-African Etisalat Prize for first novels

Fiona Snyckers is the author of the popular Trinity series of books (Trinity Rising, Team Trinity, and Trinity on Air). She graduated from the University of Witwatersrand with a first class masters’ degree in English literature. In addition to her novels, she writes numerous articles across a wide array of subjects including lifestyle, humour, reviews, and opinion.

For an opportunity to have your work read by these accomplished writers, you need to enter! This year’s Bessie Head Short Story Competition is for short stories only. Submissions can only be sent online to bessiehead@gmail.com as a Word document attachment.  There is no theme and the maximum word count is 5000 words. Only citizens and residents of Botswana are eligible. The deadline for all submissions is 15 September 2015. For complete information on formatting and other requirements, see the Bessie Head webpage here.