Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
BULAWAYO award-winning author, Philani Nyoni, is up for an international accolade as his writing prowess has earned him nomination at the 2018 African Writers’ Award for his short story, Celestial Incest.
The African Writers’ Award is annually hosted by the African Development Trust and the award is given to writers of African descent with stories that are unique, impactful and thought-provoking.
Nyoni, who is the only Zimbabwean nominated among 10 nominees from Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana and Zambia, said the nomination was a welcome development as it shows growth in his career.
“I’m excited to be breaking new ground and to be growing as a writer. Upward mobility in a writer’s career is the most important thing. I’ve been stagnant for a while so this has encouraged me as I’m doing a different genre – prose instead of what I’m known for which is poetry,” said Nyoni.
According one of the judges, stories that they shortlisted were those that looked “beneath the veil of femininity and sexuality”.
“I believe that the best short stories have the power to change minds, to rethink attitudes and build empathy by asking the readers to walk in others’ shoes through the breathing of life and emotion into the characters,” said Nyashadzashe Chikumbu.
“The 2018 African Writers’ Awards’ shortlisted stories look beneath the veil of femininity and sexuality. They challenge gender politics and bash at the rough grip societal norms have on the African girl child.”
Nyoni said when he saw the call for short stories, he entered Celestial Incest”, which he wrote two years ago. Without giving away much to what the short story was about, Nyoni said it was inspired by a meeting he had with someone in 2016.
“There’s nothing like fiction and everything is true to some extent. It (Celestial Incest) was inspired by my meeting with someone in 2016. I wrote the story two weeks after the meeting. It’s a story about two sexual beings from a different space and time who meet on earth and rediscover each other,” he said.
In his career, Nyoni has bagged two National Art Merit Awards, namely the Outstanding first creative work in 2013 for Once A Lover Always A Fool and Outstanding Poet in 2016.
Last year, he clinched a Bulawayo Arts Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Mars His Sword.
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