The country’s writers Shadreck Chikoti and Muthi Nhlema have been shortlisted in the 2017 Nommo Awards for their stories Azotus the Kingdom and Ta O’reva.
A press release indicates that the awards are given by the African Speculative Fiction Society, a body of African writers, editors, publishers and graphic artists.
The statement further says that the awards honour the best fantasy or science fiction works by Africans in the four categories of Best Novel, Novella, Short Story and Graphic Novel.
Chikoti, who is the founder of Story Club and former Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) vice president, has been shortlisted in the category of the Ilube Award for Best Novel for his futuristic novel Azotus the Kingdom.
Azotus the Kingdom is a novel that won Chikoti the Peer Gynt Award spearheaded by Mawu in 2014.
This is a story about how Africa would be 500 years from now.
It took Chikoti six years to write the novel.
The other nominees in the category are Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood, Blackass by Igoni Barrett, Rosewater by Tade Thompson and Taty Went West by Nikhil Singh.
Chikoti said there was competition in the Best Novel category.
“It is such an honour to be recognised beyond our borders and to be in the company of some of the finest brains on the continent. Let me also congratulate Nhlema for being shortlisted in the Novella category and Ekari Mbvundula for making the short story list,” he said.
He also said that Andrew Dakalira has made it on the list of novella authors.
“I am also proud that five stories from an anthology we did in 2015, titled Imagine Africa 500, were listed,” Chikoti said.
The other nominees in the Novellas category are Nnedi Okorafor for his work titled Binti, Dilman Dila for The Flying Man of Stone and Mame Diene for Hell Freezes.
Ta O’reva once competed in an international long short story contest administered by online publishers freeditorial. com.
This is a post apocalyptic sci-fi thriller with a Nelson Mandela twist and centres on murder in rural South Africa that triggers a series of events.
The prize money for the categories is $1,000 each for Best Novel and Best Comic or Graphic Novel whereas Best Novella and Best Short Story winners will pocket $500 each.
Benefactor Tom Ilube has provided funding for four years to the Nommo Awards and the award for Best Novel is named in his honour.
The statement said the members nominated their favourite works in four categories and that the shortlist consists of works that received the highest numbers of nominations.
Over the next three months, members will vote for the winners in each category. The winners are expected to be announced at the Ake Festival in Nigeria in November.
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