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Stanely Mushava Arts Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN author NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel titled “We Need New Names” missed the main Man Booker Prize, which was announced on Tuesday night, but is still regarded as one of the top novels of the year in the world, having made it to the final shortlist. Bulawayo (31) has also secured her own corner in literary history as the first Zimbabwean and the only black African woman to be shortlisted for the prestigious award.
The winning novelist, Eleanor Catton, walked away £50 000 richer, courtesy of financial services firm Man Group PLC, for her novel “The Luminaries”.
Catton scored a double in the history of the award by being the youngest author, at 28, and writing the longest novel, more than 800 pages, to win the award.
Bulawayo, along with all shortlisted authors, got a cheque for £2 500 and a designer-bound copy of her book.
Speaking shortly before the announcement of the award, chair of judges Robert Macfarlane described “We Need New Names”, the only debut novel on the list, as a book that zings and sings with angry energy.
“Our narrator is the irrepressible Darling, who tells the story of her destitute childhood in Zimbabwe and her emigration to America, a promised land which proves far from Edenic. Each chapter of this novel felt to us like a fresh adventure in language; its ‘violence and honesty’, to borrow a phrase from it, shook us,” said Macfarlane
“We Need New Names”, which is a thematic extension of the awarding-winning short story “Hitting Budapest”, made it to the stellar Man-Booker shortlist on September 10 having been longlisted on July 23.
The novel follows the adventures of Darling and her friends Stina, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho and Bastard in a shanty called Paradise.
The child protagonist is part of a delinquent club that spends time stealing fruits, contemplating abortion and dreaming of other paradises such as America, Dubai, Europe.
The title stems from émigré children’s identity search as they struggle to be accepted in a different world.
The novel has been described by local critics as sassy, witty, intricate and elegantly written and hogged glowing reviews in Western media echo chambers including The Guardian and New York Times.
However, other critics slammed the book for endorsing western stereotype on Africa.
Bulawayo was born Elizabeth Tshele in Tsholotsho. She earned her MFA at Cornell University, where she was also awarded a Truman Capote Fellowship and is currently a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University in California.
The principal import of the award, organisers said, was to encourage the widest possible readership for the best in literary fiction as the winner and the shortlisted authors are poised to enjoy viral book sales worldwide.
Bulawayo is also the author of “Snapshots” (2009), shortlisted for the South Africa PEN Studzinsi Award.
Also shortlisted were Jhumpa Lahiri, for “The Lowland”; Ruth Ozeki, for “A Tale for the Time Being”; and Colm Toibin, for “The Testament of Mary” and Jim Crace, for “Harvest”.
Online Reporter