Meet the winners of the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards

Michael Kayunde
After weeks of discussion and deliberation, the judges of the 2023 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards announced the winners this week, marking the successful conclusion of the second edition of these crucial and community-building prizes.

With the announcement of the literary awards' longlist, the local literary scene in Namibia was abuzz with excitement and discussion about the fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual art eligible for consideration by the judges.

Adjudicated by Dr Nelson Mlambo, a lecturer specialising in African literature, Natasha Uys, a well-known journalist and the winner of the 2021 Doek non-fiction award and Namafu Amutse, one of Namibia’s most talented visual artists, who also won the inaugural visual arts prize in 2021, this year’s offering of writings from Namibia provided the reading public with writings covering a broad set of themes.

Not an easy choice

The entries highlighted the diversity of storytelling that is alive in the country, as well as a growing commitment to crafting stories that have local and universal appeal. Compiling the shortlist, then, was no easy task for the judges – choosing the final four winners was much harder.

The winners are: Roxane Bayer (fiction winner for ‘Letters to Chloe’), Nina Van Zyl (non-fiction winner for ‘Motherhood’), Veripuami Nandee Kangumine (poetry winner for ‘The Jackal Who Prepares You for Marriage and Other Poems’), and Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa (visual arts winner for ‘The Gift’).

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Namibian Sun 2024-05-09

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