Literary Prizes, Writers’ Organisations and Canon Formation in Africa

ABSTRACT

This article explores the circulation of value in the literary market by investigating the interlinkages between African writers’ organisations and international literary award institutions. It focuses on selected writers’ organisations such as FEMRITE, Kwani?, Storymoja, Farafina, and Writivism, investigating how they participate in placing contemporary African literature in the global literary marketplace especially through their creative writing programmes. The article pays attention to the intersection between literary awards and creative writing programmes on the continent in mediating the process of literary production. I attempt to place the literary text within the mechanisms of its production by examining the various structures that frame the creative writing programmes on the continent. The article borrows from John Guillory’s (1993) ideas on the canon in which he argues that the process of canonisation is directly influenced by the distribution of, or the access to, the means of literary production. I argue that these local writers’ outfits are not only taking over the role of literary canonisation from the mainstream literary institutions such as the universities, publishers, and international award bodies, they are also consolidating their position as major players in the African literary and cultural fields.

KEY WORDS:

• awards
• Caine Prize
• Commonwealth Prize
• writers’ organisations
• creative writing
• canonisation
• literary value
• literary market

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the English Department at Stellenbosch University and to Mathilda Slabbert and Daniel Roux for their invaluable feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.

Note on Contributor

Doseline Kiguru is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on literary prizes and the production of African literary and cultural value.

Notes

1. See Karl Marx Capital: A Critique of Political Economy.

2. See <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg> (accessed 21 November 2015).

3. The Etisalat Prize for Literature is funded by the mobile telecommunications service provider, Etisalat, and was established in Nigeria in 2013. It aims at promoting and celebrating first-time writers of published books from Africa. The books have to be in English and the winner receives £15,000.

4. Doreen Strauhs defines LINGO as ‘a nongovernmental organization with a focus on the production and promotion of literary talent, events, and publications that is situated in the nonprofit sector’ (2013: 22).

5. See <http://storymojafestival.com/partners-2/> (accessed 21 November 2015).

6. See <http://writivism.com/> (accessed 21 November 2015).

7. The French paper report as quoted by The Guardian online <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/07/creative-writing-killing-western-literature-nobel-judge-horace-engdahl> (accessed 21 November 2015).

8. Ibid n.p.

9. See <http://thisisafrica.me/lifestyle/must-stop-giving-legitimacy-caine-prize-binyavanga/> (accessed 4 December 2014).

10. See <http://bostonreview.net/fiction/varieties-blackness> (accessed 20 November 2015).