By Ogova Ondego
Published March 24, 2011
Sierra Leonean Aminatta Forna and South African Cynthia Jele are the African winners of The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2011.
Forna’s book, The Memory of Love, won in the Best Book category while Jele’s Happiness is a Four-Letter Word made away with the Best First Book prize.
Forna and Jele shall be in contention for the overall prizes that shall be announced in Sydney, Australia, in May 2011.
RELATED: Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize Call for Entries
While each of the eight regional winners is awarded a cash prize of 1,000 pounds sterling, the Overall Best Book and Overall Best First Book at the grand finale in Sydney will receive 10,000 and 5,000 pounds sterling, respectively.
The Commonwealth Writers Prize is recognised internationally for promoting ground-breaking works of fiction from across the countries that were once part of the former British Empire.
