Gabrielle Mudiwa has won the first ever Achmat Dangor Literary Prize, an award dedicated to nurturing young, previously disadvantaged writers working in all genres.
The award was set up to enable a talented young writer to pursue an MA in Creative Writing at Wits, ensuring that the legacy of Achmat Dangor, the celebrated late South African writer and activist, endures.
The prize is presented by the Achmat Dangor Legacy Project and the Wits’s Creative Writing Department, School of Literature, Language, and Media, and Faculty of Humanities.
Mudiwa is a 28-year-old writer, currently completing a joint Honours in African Literature and Creative Writing at Wits.
‘Mudiwa’s work stood out of nearly forty applications for its unique narrative voice and command of language, capturing themes of memory, displacement and continuity in South Africa,’ the prize announcement reads.
‘This year’s submissions highlighted the diversity and vibrancy of South African literature, emphasising the need for initiatives that support emerging voices.’
The shortlist, which featured ‘distinct voices and remarkable talent’, included Veli Mnisi, Phelani Makhanya, Vuyokazi Ngemntu, Lerato Sibanda waga Matsomela and Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi.
The award ceremony took place on 30 October at the William Cullen Library, where attendees could also view an exhibition of Dangor’s papers, now housed in Wits’s Historical Papers Research Archive.
Ivan Vladislavić, writer and Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at Wits, and JRB Patron, spoke on Dangor’s contributions to South African literature, noted:
‘Dangor’s work resonates profoundly in our present. His concern with the fluidity and mutability of identity, intergenerational trauma and the burdens of memory, his bold and sometimes disquieting eroticism, and his interest in spirituality, mysticism and Muslim identity will strike a chord with many contemporary readers and writers.’
The Achmat Dangor Literary Prize will be offered every two years. Audrey Elster, Dangor’s wife and long-term partner, initiated the project and brought this year’s prize to fruition.
