{"id":20421,"date":"2022-06-23T10:57:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T10:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award"},"modified":"2022-06-23T11:10:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T11:10:43","slug":"eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award","title":{"rendered":"Eswatini author wins 2022 Commonwealth short story award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Ntsika Kota has been awarded the 2022 Commonwealth short story prize, making history as the first writer from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) to win the prize. He secured it with his \u2018And the earth drank deep\u2019 story.<\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.<\/p>\n

Kota\u2019s book was described as a \u2018universal story\u2019 for including different cultures and generations. The judges found his story to be a true representation of humanity by portraying the evil and heroism of people.<\/p>\n

Kota, from Mbabane, Eswatini, was announced as the winner in an online ceremony on June 21. Second to him came, Sofia Mariah Ma Singapore (for Asia), Cecil Browne United Kingdom\/St Vincent and the Grenadines (for Canada and Europe), Diana McCaulay, Jamaica (for the Caribbean), and Mary Rokonadravu, Fiji (for the Pacific).<\/p>\n

According to him, he had not imagined himself as a winner of the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really let myself hope to win, let alone expect to. With all the entries, I told myself to be realistic. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I got that call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s judging panel was comprised of the Rwandan publisher, Louise Umutoni-Bower, Indian writer Jahnavi Barua, Cypriot-born poet and translator Stephanos Stephanides, award-winning writer Kevin Jared Hosein from Trinidad and Tobago, and Wiradjuri writer, poet and academic from Australia, Jeanine Leane. It was chaired by Guyanese writer, Fred D\u2019Aguiar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s winner is an instant classic. A linear narrative in the tradition of the realist short story. The events unfold around a central ethical conceit with tension that accumulates, and a surprise ending leaves the reader with many questions and in a state of provocation,\u201d D’Aguiar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deceitfully simple and straightforward style rubs against an artful orchestration of tension. The writer controls elements of character and plot to captivate the most skeptical of readers,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

He added that the reader inherits a host of hot topics for discussion at the end of the story all of which shine back at the reader\u2019s world. Like the best parables, the result is an interplay, between story and reality, invention and the quotidian, the writer\u2019s imagination and the world of the reader, he said.<\/p>\n

Kota is a chemist by training and a self-taught writer, originally inspired by a high school writing assignment according to him. \u201cMy work is a reflection of my thoughts and feelings, and I enjoy creating that reflection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Overall, there were 6730 entries from 52 Commonwealth countries this year, with 26 stories shortlisted. All the shortlisted stories will be published on adda, Commonwealth writers\u2019 online magazine, later in the year.<\/p>\n

All of the regional winning stories of the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, including Kota’s, were published by Granta, a literary magazine, in partnership with Commonwealth writers. All five regional winning stories will also be made available in a special print collection from Paper + Ink.<\/p>\n

\u201cNtsika\u2019s success is a reminder of the universality of writing and storytelling. We all have that special power of storytelling within us, if we can only find a platform to unleash it,” Dr Anne Gallagher, Director General of the Commonwealth Foundation, said.<\/p>\n

“The prize has an uncanny ability to unearth new talent that then takes the world by storm. After reading \u2018and the earth drank deep\u2019, I\u2019m sure that trend will continue,” she added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Ntsika Kota has been awarded the 2022 Commonwealth short story prize, making history as the first writer from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) to win the prize. He secured it with his \u2018And the earth drank deep\u2019 story. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17,28],"tags":[760,763,3355,3317,758],"class_list":["post-20421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-chogm","tag-chogm-2022","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nEswatini author wins 2022 Commonwealth short story award - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ntsika Kota has been awarded the 2022 Commonwealth short story prize, making history as the first writer from Eswatini ( ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eswatini author wins 2022 Commonwealth short story award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ntsika Kota has been awarded the 2022 Commonwealth short story prize, making history as the first writer from Eswatini ( ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-23T10:57:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-23T11:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_1-62b44a0f63987.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1037\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Eswatini author wins 2022 Commonwealth short story award\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-23T10:57:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-23T11:10:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\"},\"wordCount\":587,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_1-62b44a0f63987.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"CHOGM\",\"CHOGM 2022\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Culture and Art\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/culture-and-art\/eswatini-author-wins-2022-commonwealth-short-story-award\",\"name\":\"Eswatini author wins 2022 Commonwealth short story award - 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