Margaret Wrong Prize for African Literature

Last updated

The Margaret Wrong Prize for African Literature was an annual prize for African literature which existed from 1950 until the early 1960s. Established in memory of the missionary and educational administrator Margaret Wrong, the prize was administered by the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa. It was awarded for "original literary work by writers of African race resident in a part of Africa to be determined each year by the Trustees". [1]

Contents

History

Margaret Wrong died in 1948. A year after Wrong's death, fourteen individuals - including Seth Irunsewe Kale, Rita Hinden, Lord Hailey, Ida Ward and Wrong's partner Margaret Read – wrote to The Times announcing the intention to establish a trust for a literary prize in Wrong's memory. [2] A committee was formed, initially chaired by Gerald Hawkesworth and then by Christopher Cox, Educational Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The award was originally given to African writers in European languages and Afrikaans, with the recipient receiving both a silver medal and a money prize. In 1954, in reaction to "steady demand for the inclusion of African languages", the award of the silver medal (for writing in an African language) was separated from the money prize (for writing in a European language). [3]

Winners

YearAwardAuthorNotes
1950£5 Prize & Silver Medal Gabriel-Adrien Ngbongbo, for Abunawazi le méchant. [4] Entries in "either English or French" from "Southern Sudan, Somaliland, Uganda, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and the Belgian Congo." [1]
1951£5 Prize & Silver Medal Abioseh Nicol, for 'The Devil of Yelahun Bridge'. [5] Entries in "English or French" from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Gold Coast, Liberia, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, and French Cameroons." [6] [7]
1952£5 Prize & Silver Medal Óscar Ribas, for 'A Praga'. [8] Entries "in English or Portuguese" from "Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Portuguese East Africa and Angola". [9]
1953Prize & MedalEntries "in English, Afrikaans or French" from "the Union of South Africa, the High Commissions Territories and Madagasgar". [8]
1954£20 Prize Issa Keita, for the essay 'L'Esprit de Conteur noir'. Also commended: F. James Oto and Bernard M. Onyango. [10] Entries in "English, French, Portuguese or Afrikaans" from "any part of Africa south of the Sahara". [11]
1954Silver Medal Michael B. Nsimbi, for Waggumbulizi. [3] Entries in "an African language or Arabic", from "Belgian Congo (including Ruanda-Urundi), Southern Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika or Zanzibar". [12]
1955£20 Prize Sannuo Lazare for 'Mon pays d'Hier'. [13] Entries in "English, French, Portuguese or Afrikaans" from "any part of Africa south of the Sahara". [14]
1955Silver Medal D. O. Fagunwa for Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje. [13] Entries in "an African language" from "West Africa, including French West and French Equatorial Africa, Liberia, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, and Nigeria". [15]
1956£25 Prize A. W. Kayper-Mensah for Light in Jungle Africa. Second prize (£10) to Wole Soyinka for Oji River, third prize (£5) to Asavia Wandira for The Church Missionary Society in Bugosa District, Uganda. [16] Entries in "English, French, Portuguese or Afrikaans" from "any part of Africa south of the Sahara". [17]
1956Silver Medal M. C. Mainza, for Kabuka Uleta Tunji. [16]
1957Prize and Medal James Ranisi Jolobe [18]
1958Prize and Medal Alexis Kagame [19]
1959 Chinua Achebe
1960Prize and Medal Shaaban Robert [20]
1961Prize & Medal S. A. Mpashi [21]
1962Award Mallam Abukbakar Imam for services as Hausa editor of Gaskiye Ta Fi Kwabo. Wole Soyinka for originality as a playwright. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toni Morrison</span> American novelist, essayist and academic (1931–2019)

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Frame</span> New Zealand author (1924–2004)

Janet Paterson Frame was a New Zealand author. She is internationally renowned for her work, which includes novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awards including being appointed to the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civil honour.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2003.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1977.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1969.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Mahy</span> New Zealand childrens writer (1936-2012)

Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Laurence</span> Canadian novelist and short story writer

Jean Margaret Laurence was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoko Tawada</span> Japanese writer

Yōko Tawada is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German. Tawada has won numerous literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, the Noma Literary Prize, the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature, the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Goethe Medal, the Kleist Prize, and a National Book Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernardine Evaristo</span> British author and academic (born 1959)

Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo is a British author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker. Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first black person to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2009.

Henry Swanzy was an Anglo-Irish radio producer in Britain's BBC General Overseas Service who is best known for his role in promoting West Indian literature particularly through the programme Caribbean Voices, where in 1946 he took over from Una Marson, the programme's first producer. Swanzy introduced unpublished writers and continued the magazine programme "with energy, critical insight and generosity". It is widely acknowledged that "his influence on the development of Caribbean literature has been tremendous".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Busby</span> Publisher, writer and editor (born 1944)

Margaret Yvonne Busby,, Hon. FRSL, also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisher when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-founded the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby in the 1960s. She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. In 2020 she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons". In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a Nigerian author and educator, whose published work includes novels, poetry, short stories, books for children, essays and journalism. She is the winner of several awards in Nigeria, including the Nigeria Prize for Literature.

References

  1. 1 2 Margaret Wrong Prize, Africa, Vol. 20, Issue 1 (January 1950), p.76
  2. ↑ Ruth Compton Brouwer (2002). "Books for Africa: Margaret Wrong and the Gendering of African Literature, 1929-63". Modern Women Modernizing Men: The Changing Missions of Three Professional Women in Asia and Africa, 1902-69. UBC Press. pp. 96–. ISBN   978-0-7748-0953-5.
  3. 1 2 Margaret Wrong Medal, 1954, Africa, Vol. 25, Issue 4 (October 1955)
  4. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize, Africa, Vol. 22, Issue 3 (July 1952), p.278
  5. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize, Africa, Vol. 23, Issue 1 (January 1953), p.74.
  6. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize, Africa, Vol. 21, Issue 1 (January 1951), p.68
  7. ↑ Ruth Bush (2016). Publishing Africa in French: Literary Institutions and Decolonization 1945-1967. Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN   978-1-78138-195-3.
  8. 1 2 Margaret Wrong Prize: Result of 1952 Competition, Africa, Vol. 23, Issue 3 (July 1953), p.252
  9. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize, Africa, Vol. 2, Issue 1 (January 1952), p.80
  10. ↑ Result of the Margaret Wrong Prize Competition in 1954, Africa, Vol. 25, Issue 3 (July 1955) p.279
  11. ↑ Maragaret Wrong Prize Competition, Africa, Vol. 24, Issue 1 (January 1954), p.54
  12. ↑ The Margaret Wrong Medal 1954, Africa, Vol. 24, Issue 2 (April 1954), p.166
  13. 1 2 Margaret Wrong Memorial Awards, Africa, Vol. 27, Issue 1 (January 1957), p.82
  14. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize Competition, Africa, Vol. 25, Issue 1 (January 1955), p.83
  15. ↑ Margaret Wrong Prize: Regulations 1955, Africa, Vol. 25, Issue 1 (January 1955), p.90
  16. 1 2 Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund: Awards for 1958, Africa, Vol. 27, Issue 4 (October 1957)
  17. ↑ Maragaret Wrong Prize Competition, Africa, Vol. 26, Issue 1 (January 1956), p.61
  18. ↑ E. J. Verwey (1995). "JOLOBE, James James Ranisi". New Dictionary of South African Biography. HSRC Press. p.  108. ISBN   978-0-7969-1648-8.
  19. ↑ Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund: Award for 1958, Africa, Vol. 29, Issue 3 (July 1959)
  20. ↑ Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund: Award for 1960, Africa, Vol. 31, Issue 3 (July 1961), p.282
  21. ↑ Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund: Award for 1961, Vol. 32, Issue 4 (October 1962)
  22. ↑ Margaret Wrong Memorial Fund: Award for 1962, Vol. 33, Issue 3 (July 1963), p.270
Black barnstar.svg

This article about a literary award is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.