Four Ghanaian writers are included in the 14 named for this year’s Golden Baobab Prizes for African children’s literature.
Selected from a total of 210 stories received from 13 countries across the continent, the nominees list showcases some of the finest African writers and African children’s stories today.
The Ghanaians are Ricky Dankwa Ansong (Kweku Ananse: The Tale of the Wolf and the Moon), Mamle Wolo (Flying Through Water), Kwame Aidoo (The Tale of Busy Body Bee) and Portia Dery (Grandma’s List).
South Africa also has four writers in the list of finalists. Other countries with writers on the list are Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
The Golden Baobab Prizes for literature were established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by African writers. The Prizes invite entries of unpublished stories written by African citizens irrespective of age, race, or country of origin.
The list represents stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books and the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books. The prizes have expanded to include The Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations to discover, nurture and celebrate African illustrators of children’s stories.
The Prizes are organised by Golden Baobab, a Ghana-based pan African social enterprise dedicated to supporting African writers and illustrators to create winning African children’s books.
Speaking on the prizes’ evaluation and selection processes, the Prize Co-ordinator, Delali Kumapley said stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prizes go through an incredibly exhaustive evaluation process.
“We have a team of about thirty people from all over Africa and around the world that read and score each story. A winning story for the Golden Baobab Prizes gets evaluated at most six times by different readers. This year’s nominees list represents a very strong crop of African writers.”
According to the Executive Director for Golden Baobab, Deborah Ahenkorah, the outfit is dedicated to the mission of championing the finest African stories for children and celebrating the people who create these stories. She said $20,000 had been dedicated to this year’s prizes.
The winners for the Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature as well as the winners of Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrators will be announced on November 13.
