Meet The South African Guy Songeziwe Mahlangu, Who Wins The 2014 Etisalat Prize For Literature

South African guy Songeziwe Mahlangu has won the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature for his story 'Pen Umbra'...

The winner of the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature was announced at the Intercontinental Hotel Lagos,
Nigeria on Sunday the 15th of March. South African Songeziwe Mahlangu emerged winner – beating Nigerian Chinelo Okparant a, author of ' Happiness, Like Water ' and South African Nadia Davids, author of 'An Imperfect Blessing'..

Songeziwe Mahlangu's book 'Pen Umbra' earned him the prize money of £15,000 because the winner was awarded a cash prize of £15,000 and a high-end device, in addition to a book tour to three African cities. The winning writer will also embark on the Etisalat Fellowship at the University of East Anglia, which will afford them significant opportunities to network with other
writers and publishers and time and resources to work on their second book.

The two runners up ( Nigerian Chinelo Okparant a, author of ' Happiness, Like Water ' and South African Nadia Davids, author of 'An Imperfect Blessing') also win a book tour and Etisalat will purchase 1,000 copies of there books for distribution across the continent...

Little About The Winner :

Songeziwe Mahlangu was born in 1985. He matriculated from Dale College, in King William's Town, and went on to do a business science degree at the University of Cape Town. He returned to university to do a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Rhodes, Grahamstown, in 2011. Penumbra is the end result of that degree and his first novel. Songeziwe currently lives in East London and works at a large accountancy firm.

About the award:

This is the second edition of the award which was created by Etisalat Nigeria in 2013 to celebrate young, first-time African writers of published fiction books and to promote the reading culture in Africa. The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first ever pan-African prize celebrating such first-time African writers of fiction. The prize aims to serve as a platform for the discovery of new creative African talent and to support the literary industry on the continent...

Photos of Nigerian Chinelo Okparant a, author of ' Happiness, Like Water ' and South African Nadia Davids, author of 'An Imperfect Blessing' below...