Mr. Goop Awarded The Baobab Prize!

I am ecstatic to announce that my entry Mr. Goop, into The Baobab Prize in category B (works written for children aged 12-15) has won the award!

It was with profound sense of great honour that I accepted The Baobab Prize, and my proud privilege as a Zimbabwean writer to have entered and participated, in this much needed stimulus to African writing. It has long been a dream of mine to see African fiction in all genres become much more readily available. So when I came across TBP I saw friends who shared a similar dream for teenage fiction.

Mr. Goop is a speculative science-fiction teenage tale of the future. Set in Harare, Zimbabwe, it tells the story of a young boy called Tamuka Zimudzi living in an apocalyptic post-climate change world. A world that has lost a significant portion of its land mass to rising sea levels, where laboratory created humanoid life-forms are now slaves to humans, where people live in enormous sealed arcologies by necessity. Yet in this hard new world Tamuka lives with the same hopes, fears and dreams of any twelve year-old boy, and takes his first steps towards becoming an adult.

My esteemed thanks go out to all those involved in The Baobab Prize, from Deborah Ahenkorah the founder of the prize, to the judges and all those who submitted an entry. Awards like this specifically for African writers are few and far between, and do provide an extra and needed impetus towards seeing more published African authors in all genres.

I will do what I can to see that everyone gets to read Mr. Goop as soon as possible, hopefully offline and on.

Here is the complete list:


WINNERS THE BAOBAB PRIZE 2008

The Baobab Prize for a work of fiction aimed at readers aged 8-11 years : Lauri Kubuitsile, Botswana. Story: Lorato and her Wire Car

Shortlist for Stories for readers aged 8-11 years:

- Good in the World by Marion Drew, South Africa
- The Story of my Life by Fiona Moolla, South Africa
- Abena and the Corn Seed by Vivian Amanor, Ghana
- Live and Let Live by Jenny Robson, South Africa


The Baobab Prize for a work of fiction aimed at readers aged 12-15 years: Ivor W. Hartmann, Zimbabwe. Story: Mr. Goop.

Shortlist for Stories for readers aged 12-15 years:
- Birthday Wishes by Lauri Kubuitsile, Botswana
- This Ubuntu Thing by Jayne Bauling, South Africa
- Courage like a Lion by Jenny Robson, South Africa
- Whips, Tears and Blood by Mercy Adhiambo, Kenya


The Baobab Prize for a rising writer aged 18 years or younger: Aisha Kibwana, Kenya. Story: Strange Visitors that took her life away.

Shortlist for Rising writer Prize:
- Tortoise and the Thief by Michael Anim, Ghana.