Sulaiman Addonia’s essay WRITING LIKE DEGAS PAINTS shortlisted for the Brittle Paper Award for Essays & Think Pieces 2019

Sulaiman Addonia’s essay WRITING LIKE DEGAS PAINTS has been shortlisted for the Brittle Paper Award for Essays & Think Pieces 2019. Addonia’s essay, which explores how his latest novel SILENCE IS MY MOTHER TONGUE was inspired by the works of Degas, was published by Granta in October 2018 and can be read here. Launched in 2017, Brittle Paper’s annual awards aim to recognize the finest original pieces of literary writing by Africans published online — writing that has prompted, enhanced, or defined conversations. The winner of the Essays & Think Pieces Award will be announced on 10th December 2019.

Addonia’s second novel SILENCE IS MY MOTHER TONGUE was published by The Indigo Press in October 2018 and will be published in the US by Graywolf in 2021. Russian rights have been sold to Arkadia, and Italian rights to Francesco Brioschi Editore (at auction). It was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2019 and is a New Statesman Book of the Year 2019. Brittle Paper published an essay about the writing of this novel yesterday – THE VOICES I OVERCAME TO WRITE SILENCE IS MY MOTHER TONGUE, which can be read here.


Praise for SILENCE IS MY MOTHER TONGUE

‘It is brutal on aid politics, it is damning on FGM, yet this book is infused with love as Saba, the heroine, outwits all the voyeurism of the refugee camp and of the novel form.’ — Preti Taneja, New Statesman, Books of the Year 2019

'Addonia spent several years as a child in a Sudanese refugee camp and you can sense the impact of that period on his richly written second novel, which brims with the sensory flavours of remembered experience... A sobering reminder of the way war brutally circumscribes the shape of women's lives.' — The Daily Mail/The Scottish Daily Mail

'While his portrayal of the exiled community that tries to remake its home in the camp is brilliantly alive with incidents and personalities, more beguiling still is his double portrait of teenage Saba and her brother Hagos... a gripping and courageous narrative... A feminist book... and exhilaratingly, so much more.' — The Guardian


Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist. His first novel, THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, was translated into more than 20 languages. He currently lives in Brussels where he has launched a creative writing academy for refugees and asylum seekers & the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival (In Exile). He appears regularly at international literary festivals.

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‘EXIT STRATEGY’ BY IVAN VLADISLAVIĆ PUBLISHED BY GRANTA ONLINE

Ivan Vladislavić’s story ‘Exit Strategy’, from his new collection 101 DETECTIVES is published today by Granta Online. You can read the story here http://granta.com/exit-strategy/.

101 DETECTIVES is published by Umuzi in South Africa on 20th April, and in the UK and US by And Other Stories in June. A private-eye convention and a tussle over a Pierneef. A young man’s unsettling experience in the American South and a tragedy off the coast of Mauritius. A bizarre night of industrial theatre and a translator at a loss for words. These are but a few of the fictions in 101 DETECTIVES. A collection of short stories launched his career as a writer: now twenty-six years later, 101 DETECTIVES showcases Vladislavić’s virtuosity as he bends and recasts this literary form in spectacular fashion.

Ivan spoke about the collection on Classic FM last week. Ivan will be appearing at Franschhoek Literary Festival, taking part in the following events:

Friday 15 May

1pm Writers’ libraries Justin Fox asks Belinda Bauer, Imraan Coovadia and Ivan Vladislavić about the books that have influenced them throughout their lives, their reading preferences in general — including how these may have changed at different stages in life, and what influence their reading has had on their writing.

Saturday 16 May

10am Exploring the short form Helon Habila, Jackie Kay, SJ Naude and Ivan Vladislavić talk about the of the short story form, its challenges and rewards, the skills required to master the form, and how they individually have challenged expectations with the stories they’ve written and/or edited.

4pm Authors talking An open discussion, with four authors sitting around a camp fire sharing anecdotes about the writing life. Deon Meyer will lead the discussion, alongside Ivan Vladislavić, Imraan Coovadia and Israeli writer, Eshkol Nevo. 

Sunday 17 May

11.30am The global audience: Who’s reading what you’re writing A discussion about how writing for a global audience influences a writer's choice of subject, style of writing, use of language, etc.

Vladislavić is a novelist, essayist and editor. He lives in Johannesburg where he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. His work has won several prizes, including the University of Johannesburg Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction. He was recently awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction.

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić:

‘Ivan Vladislavic is the most significant writer in South Africa today.’ – Focus on Africa

'One of South Africa's most finely tuned observers' – Ted Hodgkinson, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Over the past two decades Ivan Vladislavić’s varied oeuvre has cemented his position as one of the most critically respected novelists currently at work in South Africa.’ – Danny Byrne, Music and Literature