Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

The National Book Foundation announced its 5 Under 35 Honorees. All women! Congratulations again, NoViolet!

http://www.nationalbook.org/5under35....

Columbus wrote: "The National Book Foundation announced its 5 Under 35 Honorees. All women! Congratulations again, NoViolet!

http://www.nationalbook.org/5under35...."

Thanks
Just wonderful

Great!

and this, with apologies if you've already seen/posted it

An African Writer Who Doesn’t Mind Being Called an ‘African Writer’

This year’s nominees for the Man Booker Prize “could not be more diverse,” according to judges. And indeed, rounding out a shortlist that includes novels by writers from England, Ireland, and New Zealand are books by a half-Japanese, Canadian-American Zen Buddhist priest; a Rome-based, London-born, New England-
groomed Indian-American; and, if those aren’t enough hyphenates for you, a Texas-educated first-time novelist from Zimbabwe—31-year-old NoViolet Bulawayo.

Should Bulawayo win, she would be the first black African woman to take the prize. She’s already the first Zimbabwean to garner a nomination, and she won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing for the best short story by an African writer—“Hitting Budapest,” which serves as the opening chapter for the shortlisted We Need New Names. It appears Bulawayo is well on her way to a lofty perch beside various members of the globally recognized African literati: Chinua Achebe, Mariama Bâ, Wole Soyinka, Binyavanga Wainaina, and Chinamanda Ngozi Adichie, to name a few

(full article here: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainm... )

Janet wrote: "and this, with apologies if you've already seen/posted it

An African Writer Who Doesn’t Mind Being Called an ‘African Writer’

This year’s nominees for the Man Booker Prize “could not be more dive..."

Janet, thanks for this article. Yes, it was previously mentioned that Bulawayo was nominated for this award, but this article is new with some interesting comments.

I can certainly understand why someone would take umbrage at being labeled an "African writer" as I would assume an African American writer from Mississippi (let's say Jesmyn Ward) might feel about being labeled a North American writer. Does this comparison work or is Africa unique in and of itself and defies this association? Hmmm....

Janet wrote: "and this, with apologies if you've already seen/posted it

An African Writer Who Doesn’t Mind Being Called an ‘African Writer’

This year’s nominees for the Man Booker Prize “could not be more dive..."

Thanks for sharing this article.